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Britain's secret ties to governments, firms <span class="highlight">behind</span> ISIS oil salesSun, 02 Aug 2015 04:45:11 -0400http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=3ab_1438504785
SetsyoufreeThe story was originally commissioned by London's Middle East Eye , which has published an abridged version available here
In the scramble to access Kurdistan's oil and gas wealth, the US and UK are turning a blind eye to complicity in 'Islamic State' oil smuggling
Key allies in the US and UK led war on Islamic State (ISIS) are covertly financing the terrorist movement according to senior political sources in the region. US and British oil companies are heavily invested in the murky geopolitical triangle sustaining ISIS' black market oil sales.
The Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) in Iraq and Turkish military intelligence have both supported secret ISIS oil smuggling operations and even supplied arms to the terror group, according to Kurdish, Iraqi and Turkish officials.
One British oil company in particular, Genel Energy, is contracted by the KRG to supply oil for a major Kurdish firm accused of facilitating ISIS oil sales to Turkey. The Kurdish firm has close ties to the Iraqi Kurdish government.
Genel operates in the KRG with the backing of the British government, and is also linked to a British parliamentary group with longstanding connections to both the British and KRG oil industries.
The relationship between British and Kurdish energy companies, and senior British politicians, raises questions about conflicts of interest - especially in the context of a 'war on terror' that is supposed to be targeting, not financing, the 'Islamic State.'
Kurds, Turks and blind eyes
One of ISIS' most significant sources of revenue is oil smuggling. The Islamic State controls approximately 60% of Syria's oil, and seven major oil-producing assets in Iraq.
Using a carefully cultivated network of intermediaries and 'middlemen' in the Kurdish region of Iraq, as well as in Turkey, ISIS has been able to produce a phenomenal 45,000 barrels of oil a day, raking in as much as $3 million a day in cash by selling the oil at well below market prices.
But the sheer scale and impunity of this oil smuggling network has caused local politicians to ask whether certain officials in the KRG and Turkey are turning a blind eye to these operations.
Iraqi, Kurdish and Turkish officials have accused both the KRG and Turkish governments of deliberately allowing some of these smuggling operations to take place.
Tensions between the KRG and Iraq's central government in Baghdad are escalating over who controls production and revenues from oil fields within the Kurdish region. Kurdish officials see the oil within the Kurdish-controlled territory of Iraq as a means to seek greater autonomy, if not potentially total independence, from Baghdad - whereas the Iraqi government seeks to ensure it retains sovereign control over all sales from its own oil fields, which include those in the KRG.
Those tensions reached a crescendo when the KRG began unilaterally selling oil by exporting it to Turkey, bypassing Baghdad.
Complicity
KRG and Turkish authorities vehemently deny any role in intentionally facilitating ISIS oil sales. Both governments have taken measures to crackdown on smuggling operations, and US and UK authorities work closely with the KRG to identify ISIS smuggling routes.
Despite KRG arrests of Kurdish 'middlemen' involved in the ISIS black market oil sales, evidence continues to emerge that these measures are largely piecemeal, and have failed to address corruption at the highest levels.
According to a senior source in the Iraqi government's ruling Islamic Dawa Party, US and Iraqi authorities have developed "significant intelligence confirming that elements of the KRG have tacitly condoned ISIS oil sales on the black market."
The source, which has direct access to top Iraqi government officials, said that the KRG had originally seen the ISIS invasion of Iraq as an opportunity to consolidate Kurdish control over disputed territory, especially the oil-rich region of Kirkuk. The Kurds had not, however, anticipated how powerful ISIS' presence in the region would become.
In the early period of the invasion last year, he said:
"Elements of the KRG and Peshmerga militia directly facilitated secret ISIS oil smuggling through the Kurdish province. This was known to the Americans, which shared intelligence on the matter with the Iraqi government in Baghdad."The issue inflamed tensions between Baghdad and the KRG, contributing to efforts by Hussein al-Shahrestani, then Iraq's deputy prime minister for energy affairs, to crackdown on independent Kurdish oil exports.
His successor, new oil minister Adel Abdul-Mehdi, was brought in through a reshuffle in September last year that was engineered under US diplomatic pressure. Unlike Shahrestani, the source said, Abdul-Mehdi has a much more conciliatory approach to the Kurdish oil question, one which also happens to suit the interests of US and British investors in the KRG: "This has meant that Baghdad has also been much more lax on evidence of ISIS oil smuggling through the KRG."
The source confirmed that under mounting US pressure, "KRG authorities have taken serious steps to curb the illegal smuggling on behalf of ISIS. But the smuggling still continues, although at a more restrained level, with the support of elements of KRG's ruling parties, who profit from the black market oil sales."
Turkey also plays a crucial role in the ISIS oil smuggling operations according to the Iraqi source. As the end-point through which much of this oil reaches global markets, Turkish authorities have routinely turned a blind eye to the IS-run black market. "The Turks have an acrimonious relationship with the Americans," he claimed, but admitted that US intelligence is familiar with Turkey's role:
"US intelligence is monitoring many of these smuggling operations in minute detail. Some of this intelligence has been passed on to us. The Americans know what is going on. But Erdogan and Obama don't have a great relationship. Erdogan basically does what he likes, and the US has to lump it."The allegations have been confirmed by Turkish government officials and parliamentarians. In particular, a source with extensive connections to the Turkish political establishment including the office of the Prime Minister, said that Turkey's support for Islamist rebels opposed to Bashir al-Assad's reign in Syria began long before the emergence of the Islamic State, and was pivotal in the group's meteoric rise to power.
Turkey, a longstanding NATO member, is part of the US-led coalition fighting IS, and has been integral to the region's 'moderate' rebel training schemes supervised by Western military intelligence agencies.
"Turkey is playing a double-game with its Syria strategy," said the source.
"Turkey has sponsored Islamist groups in Syria, including ISIS, since the beginning, and continues to do so. The scale of ISIS smuggling operations across the Turkish-Syrian border is huge, and much of it is facilitated with the blessings of Erdogan and Davitoglu, who see the Islamists as the means to expand the Turkish foothold in the region."Recep Tayyip Erdogon is the President of Turkey, and Ahmet Davutoglu is the country's Prime Minister. Asked how this fits with recent Turkish operations to shut-down ISIS smuggling operations and target ISIS strongholds across the border, the source described the actions as too little, too late.
"These actions fit with Erdogan's strategy of expansion," he said. "We are not trying to shut down the infrastructure of ISIS, we are attacking it selectively."
A shadow network in broad daylight
The ISIS oil smuggling route - which encompasses the KRG and ends up at the Turkish port of Ceyhan - was recently investigated by two British academics at the University of Greenwich.
The paper by George Kiourktsoglou, Lecturer in Maritime Security and former Royal Dutch Shell strategist, and Dr Alec Coutroubis, Acting Head at the Faculty of Engineering and Science, attempted to identify suspicious patterns in the illicit oil trade.
Their extraordinary study, published by Maritime Security Review in March, examined the international route used by ISIS, based on "a string of trading hubs" comprising the localities of Sanliura, Urfa, Hakkari, Siirt, Batman, Osmaniya, Gaziantep, Sirnak, Adana, Kahramarmaras, Adiyaman and Mardin. "The string of trading hubs ends up in Adana , home to the major tanker shipping port of Ceyhan."
By comparing spikes in tanker charter rates from Ceyhan with a timeline of ISIS activities, the University of Greenwich analysis identified significant correlations between the two. Whenever the Islamic State fights "in the vicinity of an area hosting oil assets, the... exports from Ceyhan promptly spike. This may be attributed to an extra boost given to crude oil smuggling with the aim of immediately generating additional funds."
While the evidence is still "inconclusive" at this stage, the authors wrote that "there are strong hints to an illicit supply chain that ships ISIS crude from Ceyhan" to global markets. Since the launch of the ISIS oil venture in summer 2014, "tanker charter rates from Ceyhan re-coupled up to a degree with the ones from the rest of the Middle East."
Though they could not be categorical, primary research including interviews with informed sources indicated that this was most likely "the result of boosted demand for ultra-cheap smuggled crude, available for loading" from the Turkish port.
Kiourktsoglu and Coutroubis call for "further research" on ISIS criminal ventures which "can potentially integrate it within the global economy." The academics have previously given evidence before the parliamentary foreign affairs select committee regarding maritime security off the Somalian coast.
Their study also highlights failures in the US military approach to the ISIS oil operations. Although they commend how US, Turkish and Gulf air raids have "curtailed" the Islamic State's "oil cashflows" by destroying some "oil manufacturing facilities," this has not gone far enough. They report that:
"... extraction wells in the area of bombardments have yet to be targeted by the US or the air-assets of its allies, a fact that can be readily attributed to the at times 'toxic' politics in the Middle East."Despite large convoys of trucks transporting ISIS oil through government-controlled areas in Syria, Iraq and Turkey, "allied US air-raids do not target the truck lorries out of fear of provoking a backlash from locals." As a result, "the transport operations are being run efficiently, taking place most of times in broad daylight."
The public record
Evidence already in the public record corroborates the allegations of the Iraqi and Turkish sources, showing that corruption is endemic at both the origin and end-points of the ISIS smuggling route.
Informed observers inside and outside Turkey have accused the Turkish government of turning a blind eye to the smuggling of oil across the Syrian-Turkish border in its commitment to bringing down the Assad regime.
Prosecutor and witness testimony in Turkish courts revealed that in late 2013 and 2014, Turkish military intelligence had supplied arms to areas in Syria under Islamist rebel control, contributing directly to the rise of ISIS.
Turkish opposition MP Ali Ediboglu last year said that some $800 million worth of ISIS oil had been smuggled into Turkey. He also said that over a thousand Turkish nationals were helping foreign fighters join ISIS in Syria and Iraq through Turkish territory. Both, he alleged, are occurring with the knowledge and involvement of Turkish military intelligence.
In July 2014, Iraqi officials revealed that when ISIS had begun selling oil extracted from the northern province of Salahuddin, "the Kurdish peshmerga forces stopped the sale of oil at first, but later allowed tankers to transfer and sell oil."
Three months later, a KRG Interior Ministry document leaked to the Kurdish media outlet, Rudaw, showed that a former opposition MP, Burhan Rashid, had accused KRG institutions of facilitating the flow of funds and arms to ISIS militants in Iraq.
"A Kurdish political party in Erbil has supplied the ISIS militants with weapons and ammunition in exchange for oil," Rashid is recorded as saying. The document revealed that the KRG chief public prosecutor had secretly prepared a lawsuit against Rashid for making the allegations.
The lawsuit, which apparently went nowhere, was an obvious effort to silence criticism. By January, however, an investigative committee led by the KRG interior minister and natural resources minister had largely corroborated Rashid's allegations.
Kurdish parliamentary sources familiar with the final report of the committee, which remains secret, told Rudaw the report had confirmed:
"... a number of officials from the ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the Peshmerga have been involved in the illegal trade."Half a year later, the identities of officials investigated remain undisclosed, and no one has been charged, tried or sentenced. The KRG's UK office did not respond to a request for comment.
The Nokan Group
Instead, a couple of months after the committee had reached its conclusions, evidence emerged that the Nokan Group, a major Kurdish company with close ties to the KRG, had been directly facilitating ISIS oil sales.
In a letter to the Nokan Group, Mark D. Wallace - a former US ambassador to the United Nations under President George W. Bush and CEO of the New York-based Counter Extremism Project - noted credible "reports that some Kurdish entities are in fact facilitating ISIS-related oil trade...
"Specifically, certain Kurdish companies are reportedly contracted to transport refined fuel from the ISIS-controlled Baiji refinery, north of Tikrit, Iraq, for delivery throughout the Kurdish region by Sulaymaniyah province authorities in Iraqi Kurdistan, in the north-eastern region of Iraq."Trucks owned or operated by Meer Soma, a "subsidiary" of the Nokan Group, "are being used to transport refined petroleum products from ISIS-controlled refineries to Kurdish entities in or near Kirkuk," wrote Ambassador Wallace in the letter dated 20th March 2015.
Wallace noted that according to the Kurdish press, Meer Soma is among several Nokan-controlled dummy companies operating on behalf of the group, to avoid public association with the parent firm.
According to a 2012 country report by the Paris-based business intelligence agency MarcoPolis, the Nokan Group is among the largest companies in the province, and "has interests" in Meer Soma.
In 2014, the same year that photographs of Meer Soma tankers transporting ISIS oil to Kurdish refineries were published online, the Nokan subsidiary's website was deleted.
Ambassador Wallace's letter has generated little more than silence. No response from the Nokan Group was received by Wallace. The Nokan Group could not be reached for comment.
Copies of the letter were sent to relevant Congressional committees, as well as John E. Smith, Acting Director of the US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control. The US Treasury did not respond to queries about what was done to investigate the allegations.
Even a spokesperson for the Counter Extremism Project, on behalf of which the letter was sent, declined to comment when asked to clarify the follow-up from US authorities.
Corruption, Nokan and the KRG
The Nokan Group is a conglomerate of companies owned and controlled by the Iraqi Kurdish political party, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), which is one of the KRG's ruling parties alongside the majority KDP.
The Kurdistan Tribune reports that Nokan is run from the general management office of the PUK in Sulaymani district. The newspaper estimates that, accounting for its 23 subsidiary companies, the Nokan Group's net worth approaches roughly 4-5 billion US dollars, many multiples larger than its declared value.
The Tribune points out that the PUK business model is representative of private enterprise across the KRG - rife with corruption and nepotism, largely for the enrichment of political elites and their allies. "The economic model in Kurdistan monopolises the market for the benefit of a few and poisons the environment for Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs)," observes the paper.
A lengthy report in The Nation found that the KRG's patronage system was alienating and disenfranchising much of the population: "Many of the most profitable companies, such as those controlling construction projects, are owned by a Barzani or Talabani," the heads of the two KRG ruling parties.
"But beyond the gleaming new suburbs, five-star hotels and flashy cars lies an ancient city in which critics say corruption remains a problem and the lines dividing government and business are unhealthily blurred," noted theFinancial Times.
Until last year, the PUK's leader Jalal Talabani was President of Iraq. His son, Qubad Talabani, is currently Deputy Prime Minister in the KRG. Previously, the latter served as the KRG's representative in the United States. In both capacities Qubad has played a key role in developing commercial relationships with the West, especially concerning oil.
Jalal Talabani's other son, Pavel, oversees the KRG's anti-terror squad in Sulaymani, which is run by PUK member Lahur Sheikh Jangi.
The elder Talabani's sister-in-law, Shanaz Ibrahim Ahmed, is the PUK representative to the UK responsible for media relations, as well as for the finances of the Nokan Group.
Qubad Talabani, incumbent KRG deputy PM, is slated to speak at the Kurdistan-Iraq Oil &amp; Gas Conference to be held in London this November. The conference, organised by British firm CWC Group in partnership with the joint PUK-KDP government, is sponsored by a number of energy corporations including Exxon Mobil, Chevron, DNO, Gulf Keystone Petroleum, and the Qaiwan Group.
The Qaiwan Group, among the London conference's platinum sponsors, is contracted to the KRG's Ministry of Energy to design, construct and operate planned expansions to the Bazian oil refinery under a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA).
The current 'phase three' expansion, due for completion by 2018, aims to lift the refinery's capacity from 34,000 to 80,000 barrels per day.
The Bazian refinery is, however, owned and controlled by WZA Petroleum - another subsidiary of the PUK's Nokan Group, dominated by the Talabani family.
WZA Petroleum's president is Parwen Babakir, in which capacity she is the principal owner of the Bazian refinery. Babakir is also the Chairman of the Nokan Group, and is in charge of the PUK's oil and gas portfolio. She was previously appointed Minister of Industry in the Sulaymani district by Talabani from 2003 to 2007. She did not respond to questions concerning the Nokan Group's alleged facilitation of IS oil sales.
While KRG government officials and their relatives are directly profiting from lucrative oil and gas contracts brokered by the KRG, the same officials - who are responsible for anti-terrorism in the Sulaymani province - oversee the Nokan Group, which is implicated in facilitating ISIS oil smuggling.
The British connection
A British energy company with strong backing from the UK political establishment operates the oil field supplying the Nokan-owned Bazian refinery.
The refinery, owned by the Nokan Group whose trucks were seen transporting IS oil through the Kurdish province earlier this year, is supplied from the KRG's Taq Taq field. The oil field produces a total of around 100,000 barrels per day, most of which is shipped to local refineries. British-Turkish firm Genel Energy has a 45 percent stake in the Taq Taq field.
Genel Energy was formed from a $2.1 billion merger in 2011 between a UK firm, Vallares Plc, and a Turkish company, Genel Enerji. The firm is run by Tony Hayward, a former CEO of British Petroleum (BP).
Asked about Genel's position on working with institutions allegedly involved in financing ISIS terrorism, Andrew Benbow, spokesperson for the Anglo-Turkish company, stated: "These are all questions to be asked to the KRG rather than ourselves."
According to the final report of the House of Commons Select Committee on Foreign Affairs' inquiry into the British government's policy toward the KRG, published in January 2015, Genel is the only major British investor in the province.
The report noted that the Kurdistan region holds an estimated 45 billion barrels of oil - in the same league as Libya and Nigeria - and a further 110 trillion cubic feet of gas, placing it around tenth or twelfth in the world for reserves. The KRG aims to export as much as 2 million barrels per day by 2020, a prospect of huge interest to Western companies including, according to the report, "Exxon, Chevron, Repsol, Total, the local giant KAR, and the British-Turkish company, Genel Energy."
Just a month earlier, David Cameron's then Energy Minister Matthew Hancock told the 4th Kurdistan-Iraq Oil &amp; Gas Conference in Erbil, that Iraq "has a critical role to play in meeting the world's future demand for oil." Remarking that US oil production is "forecasted to peak in 2020," he said that therefore "the world is expected to become ever more dependent on Iraqi supply."
Iraqi oil production will treble to over 8 million barrels a day by 2040, he added: "Reserves in Kurdistan play a significant role in this increase. The region is not only thought to be one of the largest untapped areas of oil in the world, but also has significant gas potential."
Genel Energy is positioned to profit massively from increased Kurdish output, bar an oil shock or other such wild card. Genel's president, Mehmet Sepil, told the 2014 conference that his firm planned to play the lead role in exploiting 11 trillion cubic feet of gas in the Kurdish province.
A year earlier, the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on the Kurdistan Region of Iraq had released a report from its fact-finding mission to the province, recommending that the Foreign Affairs Select Committee undertake this inquiry.
As part of that fact-finding mission, British Conservative MP Nadhim Zahawi, who is co-chair of the APPG on Kurdistan, visited the Taq Taq oil field being run by Genel Energy in November 2013.
Zahawi held shares in Genel Energy, according to the House of Commons Register of Interests, which shows that he declared his relationship to Genel in June 2013. According to Zahawi, he sold his shares in Genel on 30th April 2014.
Later in 2013, Zahawi was appointed by David Cameron to the Prime Minister's Policy Board, with special responsibility for business and the economy, a post he still holds.
By June 2014, Zahawi was appointed as a member of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, and played a key role in its inquiry into government policy.
"These are obviously very serious allegations which I was not previously aware of and that were not submitted to the Select Committee's inquiry," said Zahawi regarding the Ambassador Wallace's letter concerning the Nokan Group. He explained that the committee would investigate ISIS funding sources in a further inquiry.
Zahawi also denied knowledge of the KRG's internal investigation into support for ISIS terrorism, as well as the allegations concerning Genel's relationship to Nokan. "As an ex retail shareholder," he explained, "I have no more knowledge of the details of their operation than any other retail share holder or member of the public. I would suggest that you submit your evidence and questions to Genel directly."
The APPG on Kurdistan is intimately connected to both the PUK-KDP run government and Western oil interests in the province. Gary Kent, who is Director of Labour Friends of Iraq, is paid directly by Gulf Keystone Petroleum - which is heavily invested in KRG oil assets - to provide secretariat services for the APPG.
The KRG and its UK arm also provide "administrative services" for the APPG, including "dinners for parliamentarians," annual receptions, and funding group delegations to the province.
Describing the APPG on Kurdistan's findings in January 2014, APPG Vice Chair Robert Halfon - who is now a Minister (without portfolio) in David Cameron's new cabinet and Deputy Chairman of the Tory Party - told the House of Commons:
"Across the Kurdistan region, business is flourishing... and people are keen on British and foreign investment. Privatisation continues apace and huge property complexes are being built. There are significant oil and gas reserves, which, unusually in these parts, are used for the benefit of the country, not salted away in corruption. As I pointed out in an early-day motion ... the KRG can become an important ally in guaranteeing the UK's future energy security."In January 2015, as the UK parliamentary Foreign Affairs Select Committee released its inquiry report, Zahawi was back in the KRG as part of an official UK trade delegation led by Mayor of London Boris Johnson, recently appointed to the Prime Minister's political cabinet.
Fracturing Iraq for oil
Although the KRG launched its investigation of ISIS terrorism financing by Kurdish officials while the British parliamentary inquiry was still ongoing, the inquiry report makes no mention of it, nor does it acknowledge that the KRG investigation had confirmed the allegations nearly a month before publication.
The parliamentary committee did not come across such allegations, nor had any such information ever been submitted to the inquiry, Zahawi said.
The 2015 UK parliamentary report repeatedly justifies calls for cementing British-KRG ties due to the KRG's role as a reliable "partner in the fight against terrorism."
While the parliamentary report goes to pains to emphasise the British government's formal position in favour of a unified Iraq, it also leans heavily toward a federal solution granting the KRG considerable autonomy, based on its ability to exploit oil and gas resources in the province.
Pointing to the UK Foreign Secretary's recommendation of "devo max" (maximum devolution) as the best possible model of democratic governance in Iraq, the report recommends that the British government should be prepared for "the possible consequences of Iraq's break-up."
The KRG's "increased self-governance, or even independence, is itself rational, given its economic potential and demonstrable capacity for effective self- governance, and also understandable, given its recent history." While the move to independence is not imminent, "it is a medium-term possibility, depending in large part on the Kurdistan Region's energy export strategy, for which the UK Government should be prepared."
In its reporting on Zahawi's visit to KRG oil fields run by Genel Energy, The Independent observed that there is "no suggestion of any impropriety in relation to the Kurdistan APPG."
But irrespective of parliamentary rules, the APPG's brazen role in facilitating British oil and gas interests in the region is hardly a secret.
"We have taken the detailed reports from our delegations to UK ministers and other groups to promote the message that Kurdistan is open to business and to boost British connections in trade, culture and other fields," the APPG declares on its website.
"This has helped change the UK's approach to Kurdistan... The group's reports helped overcome that erroneous assumption and persuaded the UK Government to send its first official mission to the Erbil Trade Fair - more British companies are expected at next month's fair."Like many of the other interests involved, the UK Foreign Office (FCO) simply failed to respond when questioned about the British government's relationship with regional authorities and firms implicated in the facilitation of IS black market oil sales.
Genel Energy CEO Tony Hayward has previously spoken out in defence of the KRG's decision to ask the company to truck exports of crude oil from the Taq Taq field to Turkey. The Anglo-Turkish firm is receiving payments for these exports directly from the KRG, rather than from the Baghdad government, which had condemned them as illegal.
Until her resignation earlier this year, former Labour MP Meg Munn was chair of the APPG on Kurdistan alongside Zahawi. A former Foreign Office minister under Tony Blair, she is Vice Chair of the Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD), an "executive non-departmental public body" sponsored by the Foreign Office that promotes parliamentary institutions abroad.
The WFD has been contracted for many years by the Foreign Office and UK Department for International Development (DFID) to augment the formal mechanisms of democracy in Iraq and the KRG.
Yet an independent review of the organisation's work commissioned by the FCO in 2010 concluded that its own internal records "provide little evidence that the organisation is having significant, long-term and sustainable impact." Rather, the review concluded:
"... the purpose of party support - strictly defined - is not to show demonstrable improvements in the functioning of democracy... allows the parties to engage in activity that would be impossible for the FCO to undertake."This involves political activities "designed to help their ideological counterparts in other countries" and which facilitate "access to, and influence over parties in developing democracies," thus supporting the "UK government's diplomatic objectives."
Thus, the WFD ultimately functions to promote British government interests . Its constitution stipulates that all fourteen members of its Board of Governors must be appointed by the British Foreign Secretary, with eight of them nominated by Westminster political parties. One WFD Annual Report concedes that:
"WFD offers the FCO and HMG ... a focus on political work which the FCO or the Government could not or would not wish to undertake directly... where direct British government support could be interpreted as foreign interference."Despite its self-description as a "neutral convener" between demands for national unity and federalisation, the WFD's entire national Iraq programme is run from the KRG capital, Erbil.
In Iraqi Kurdistan, for the WFD this has meant, according to the APPG's 2011 report , promoting "a democratic market economy" safe for foreign capital penetration: "The menu includes a smaller but smarter state, an active civil society, a free and professional media system and more private businesses."
"Kurdistan is exploiting its oil and gas riches commendably and ahead of schedule through making good use of the private sector," the APPG report under Zahawi and Munn's watch enthused.
"European energy security will gain from their ability to supply gas through the projected southern energy corridor for a century. This deserves UK recognition and support."The eagerness of American and British oil companies to exploit Iraqi Kurdish resources, however, raises urgent questions as to whether US-UK government support for the KRG-Turkish oil nexus is undermining the war on ISIS, if not fuelling the terror group.
Neither the British nor American governments appear to be willing to answer these questions.
Dr Nafeez Ahmed is an investigative journalist, bestselling author and international security scholar. A former Guardian writer, he writes the 'System Shift' column for VICE's Motherboard, and is also a columnist for Middle East Eye.
He is the winner of a 2015 Project Censored Award, known as the 'Alternative Pulitzer Prize', for Outstanding Investigative Journalism for his Guardian work, and was selected in the Evening Standard's 'Power 1,000' most globally influential Londoners.
Nafeez has also written for The Independent, Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Scotsman, Foreign Policy, The Atlantic, Quartz, Prospect, New Statesman, Le Monde diplomatique, New Internationalist, Counterpunch, Truthout, among others. He is a Visiting Research Fellow at the Faculty of Science and Technology at Anglia Ruskin University.
Nafeez is the author of A User's Guide to the Crisis of Civilization: And How to Save It (2010), and the scifi thriller novel ZERO POINT , among other books. His work on the root causes and covert operations linked to international terrorism officially contributed to the 9/11 Commission and the 7/7 Coroner's Inquest.
This exclusive is being released for free in the public interest, and was enabled by crowdfunding. I'd like to thank my amazing community of patrons for their support, which gave me the opportunity to work on this story. Please support independent, investigative journalism for the global commons via Patreon.com, where you can donate as much or as little as you like.http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=3ab_1438504785SetsyoufreeBritain's secret ties to governments, firms <span class="highlight">behind</span> ISIS oil salesBritain, UK, OIL, ISIS, DAESH, Terrorism, War, Iraq, USA, Iran, Petroleum, Daughter kills father, 6-year-old daughter, reports them as missingSun, 02 Aug 2015 17:04:35 -0400http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=543_1438549311
beachbummmFLORIDA PEOPLE ARE FUCKED UP DONT GO THERE!
FIRST casey Anthony NOW THIS NUT BAG
LAKELAND --
The mother of a 6-year-old girl was taken into custody Sunday after the child and her grandfather were found murdered in Lakeland, the Polk County Sheriff's office said.
Mark Weekly, 50, and Meredith Jessie were last seen on July 18 at Weekly's home on Drane Field Road, where Meredith was left in Weekly's care. They were reported missing Saturday by the girl's mother, Cheyanne Jessie.
Jessie is charged with two counts of first-degree murder and one count of tampering with evidence.
Detectives believe Jessie killed her father and daughter on July 18th. Then investigators say the 25 year old left their bodies inside of her father's home for days before putting the remains in duffel bags and hiding them behind a neighbor's shed.
The sheriff said he believes Jessie reported the two missing Saturday because she kept getting questions about their whearabouts.
"She felt the noose tightening because her stories weren't making sense. Oh, he's in Georgia and I've talked to him and my daughter's in Georgia," Sheriff Grady Judd. "And I suspect when we get through different witnesses that we'll find some family or friends have been beginning to question, you mean, your daughter's been gone two weeks now?"
Judd said they believe a gun and a knife was used. And when they asked Jessie why she did it she said she was defending herself from her dad and she admitted to having problems with her daughter.
Jessie has been booked into the Polk County Jail. She will have first appearance Monday.http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=543_1438549311beachbummmDaughter kills father, 6-year-old daughter, reports them as missingfloridaCanada PM Stephen Harper announces October 19 electionSun, 02 Aug 2015 13:46:18 -0400http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=5e7_1438537503
EuronewsCanadian prime minister Stephen Harper has called a parliamentary election for October .. kicking off a marathon eleven-week campaign.
He announced the election after visiting the representative of Queen Elizabeth, Canada's head of state, to formally request the dissolution of parliament.
"The debt crisis in Europe shows no sign of abating, China is in the midst of a significant slowdown, recovery in the US remains slower than expected," said Harper after announcing the vote. "Once again, these trends abroad impact our life here, in our country."
Harper's right-of-centre Conservative Party which has been office since two-thousand-and-six are trailing behind the left-leaning New Democrats (NDP) who have never governed Canada.
The Liberals of Justin Trudeau are well behind in third place.
Both parties say Canada needs a change.
The country's eleven-week campaign is the longest in modern Canadian history and the third longest on record.
Opposition parties say this is an abuse of the system.
Most of Canada's most recent campaigns lasted the minimum length of just over five weeks.http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=5e7_1438537503EuronewsCanada PM Stephen Harper announces October 19 electionEuronewsThe USA oil market 2015 open new opportunities for Russia.Sun, 02 Aug 2015 09:52:44 -0400http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=031_1438522303
nauruIt might seem odd to discover that US imports of Russian crude oil in the past two months
have averaged their highest level in three years. Ship-tracking data
shows that in June and July the US imported more than 70,000 barrels a day of
Russian crude on average. This is the first time imports have hit that level in
two consecutive months since 2012. In total, more than 4.6m barrels of Russian oil
have arrived at US refineries over this period. Refineries in
Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania have been some of the biggest US buyers
of Russian crude in the past two months, according to the data. Factor
behind higher flows has been the large increase in Russia's exports from the
east of the country, which were designed in part to open up new markets in Asia as Europe has threatened to diversify where it imports its energy from.
Russia's ESPO crude oil blend, exported from the eastern port of Kozmino on the Sea of Japan,
has made its way past Asia to plants in both Hawaii and California, the shipping data shows. "With production down in May and June due to refinery and upstream maintenance on the US West
Coast, refineries stepped up purchases of Russian ESPO crude," said Amrita Sen, head of oil research at Energy Aspects in London. Two cargoes of Russian crude have also sailed across the Atlantic to the US Gulf Coast, including a relatively rare cargo of Siberian light. The data show that when oil traders see an opportunity to move or buy a cargo at the best
possible price, little things like geopolitics won't easily stand in the way.
FT
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/a421b98a-36e2-11e5-bdbb-35e55cbae175.html#axzz3hf3IBLdchttp://www.liveleak.com/view?i=031_1438522303nauruThe USA oil market 2015 open new opportunities for Russia.russia usa crude oil 2015 sanctions Trump turns US politics into a (bad) reality show( Gypsy note: READ IT! It'll show you why republicans are and will be losing) Sun, 02 Aug 2015 06:11:40 -0400http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=888_1438509957
gypsyDonald Trump may be melodramatic, crude and shameless, but he's riding high in the polls as he launches his improbable bid for the White House. He has little chance of winning but, before the first TV debate for Republican presidential candidates this week, he's having a dramatic impact on the race
There are 17 people running for the Republican presidential nomination. Ten of them will meet on 6 August in Cleveland, Ohio, for the first presidential debate of the 2016 election.
But if you've been following American politics over the past week, there's really only one name that matters: Trump. In the six weeks since businessman, casino owner, reality show star and megalomaniac Donald Trump announced his intention to run for president, his name has overshadowed the "Grand Old Party" (Republican) field. Not only is Trump dominating the polls, but his readiness to say anything and attack anyone means TV producers and political journalists can't get enough of him.
In his now infamous presidential announcement on 16 June, Trump called illegal immigrants from Mexico criminals and rapists - a charge that, rather than apologise for, Trump doubled down on. Since then he has called his detractors "dummies", "losers," and "zeros"; he mocked John McCain's six years in a North Vietnamese PoW camp and even gave out South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham's mobile phone number after Graham attacked him.
If you ever wondered what it would be like if a 12-year-old boy ran for president, Trump has provided you with an answer. He is thin-skinned, melodramatic, petulant, impulsive, loud-mouthed, obnoxious, boastful, crude and shameless and, like many adolescents, he has at best a casual relationship with the truth. He simply makes things up as he goes along, and even when reporters point out that, for example, illegal immigrants are not responsible for a significant amount of crime (a regular Trump talking point) he merely brushes it off or criticises the media for misreporting his words.
Indeed, his entire public persona is completely incongruous. Trump is a populist billionaire, married to a former supermodel, lives in a palatial apartment in New York City and yet is adopting the image of a man of the people who will speak unpleasant truths. In a recent focus group of New Hampshire Republicans who support Trump, one of those present said: "He's like one of us."
But in a party that is defined by a mass of resentments, anxieties and frustrations about the larger cultural and social changes occurring in American society, Trump's message on immigration and his image as an anti-politician is resonating.
Trump is still garnering only about 20%-25% of the GOP vote in polls, but his presence is having an enormous impact on the race for the presidential nomination. Republican candidates were already in a bit of a bind. Since there are so many of them, the organisers of the first debate have decided to limit entry to the 10 candidates who are scoring the highest in public opinion polls. Former Florida governor Jeb Bush, Wisconsin governor Scott Walker, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, neurosurgeon-turned-politician Ben Carson and senators Rand Paul, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz are likely to make the cut. But for New Jersey governor Chris Christie, former Texas governor Rick Perry, Ohio governor John Kasich, former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum and Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal, moving from 1% to 2.5% in the polls could make the difference between being in or out of the tent.
Beyond this instrumental challenge there is the added challenge of simply getting media coverage in what has become, increasingly, the Summer of Trump. The result has been a race to the bottom. Perry, who became a political punchline after his dismal performance in the 2012 race, took the high road. He launched a rhetorical attack on Trump, calling him "a cancer on conservatism". It's hard to disagree, but this rings a bit hollow coming from Perry who, four years ago, suggested that Ben Bernanke, the head of the Federal Reserve, was potentially committing treason.
Cruz took the low road. He got into a public spat with the Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, a fellow Republican, even going so far as to call him a liar on the floor of the US Senate. Next he accused Barack Obama of financing terrorism in agreeing to a nuclear deal with Iran.
That was relatively tame compared with Huckabee. He took the really low road and said Obama's Iran deal would lead Israel "to the door of the oven". It was a horrendous political attack, made worse by Huckabee's response to condemnation from both sides of the political aisle - he pushed out a web ad repeating the charge.
Paul took a different approach to attention-getting. He literally took a chainsaw to the tax code. Going one step further, Graham responded to Trump announcing his phone number by making a web video of him bashing his phone with a baseball bat (I guess no one on his staff told him that he could just change the number and keep the phone).
This entire process has turned American politics into perhaps the worst reality show ever. It is also an unfortunate reminder of the state of the modern Republican party. While Republican elites have gone to great lengths to present Trump as somehow outside the political mainstream, his views fit squarely within the frame of modern conservatism - xenophobic nationalism, contempt for traditional politics, fetishisation of "authenticity" and dismissal and contempt of "others" in American society. Indeed, the progressive victories of the past few weeks, on Obamacare, same-sex marriage, the taking down of the Confederate flag as well as the rising influence of the Black Lives Matter movement, have likely only intensified these sentiments and helped drive Trump's support.
For years Republican politicians railed against Obama, pledged to repeal Obamacare and stop the cultural shift in American society. They have completely failed. So it should perhaps come as little surprise that a healthy segment of the Republican base has simply tuned them out and rallied behind someone who is the opposite of a politician and "doesn't care what people think".
Trump's success in the polls is unlikely to translate to success when votes are cast. There are simply too many Republicans who would never consider voting for him. Beyond that, being good at politics is a skill - one that Trump does not appear to possess. Stirring up some Republican voters and winning their early support is all well and good, but to win the nomination, Trump would need to expand his support, and there's little indication that he will be able to do that.
The impact on the GOP, however, will endure. With so much attention being paid to Trump, lesser-known candidates such as Rubio, Kasich and Paul will find it that much harder to be heard among the din. Trump may kill each of their candidacies off. That would end up helping Jeb Bush and Scott Walker, who though polling in the teens, are clearly in a stronger position than any of the other candidates.
The downside is that Trump's bloviating risks driving the party even further to the right and further tarnishing the party's image among non-Republican voters. After all, while the presidential election may still be 15 months away, it's pretty hard to look at the party today and conclude that it should be granted the awesome power of the US presidency.
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/aug/02/donald-trump-republican-presidential-nominationhttp://www.liveleak.com/view?i=888_1438509957gypsyTrump turns US politics into a (bad) reality show( Gypsy note: READ IT! It'll show you why republicans are and will be losing) If, you ,comment ,with ,out, reading ,you're,a, foolTurkish &amp; US backed rebel group &quot;Division 30&quot; left their HQ and fled to YPG/J Afrin. Text only.Sun, 02 Aug 2015 05:52:10 -0400http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=b12_1438507714
ide3Clashes between members of al-Qaida's branch in Syria and a rebel
faction in the country's north believed to have been trained by the U.S.
government have stopped after the rebels abandoned their headquarters,
activists said Saturday.
The Nusra Front meanwhile released a video showing one of the
captured rebels saying that the men in the faction known as Division 30
were trained in Turkey by U.S. officers and sent back to Syria with
money and weapons.
The fighting came a few days after the U.S. and Turkey announced the
outlines of a deal to help rebels push the Islamic State group back from
a strip of territory it controls along the Syrian-Turkish border,
replacing it with more moderate rebels backed by Washington and Ankara.
Rami Abdurrahman, who heads the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for
Human Rights, said members of the Division 30 faction fled to a nearby
area controlled by a Syrian Kurdish militia. Abu al-Hassan Marea, a
Syrian activist who is currently in Turkey near the Syrian border,
confirmed Saturday that Division 30 fighters have withdrawn from their
headquarters.
Abdurrahman and Marea said Division 30 had less than 60 fighters and
that on Friday alone the group lost five fighters and 18 others were
wounded.
A representative of Division 30 did not respond to written questions sent to the group's Facebook account.
On Friday night the Nusra Front said it attacked Division 30 and
abducted some of its members, including its commander, because they were
trained by the CIA and vowed in a statement to cut off "the arms" of
the American government in Syria. During the fighting, U.S.-led
coalition warplanes attacked the Nusra Front fighters according to
activists.
On Saturday Nusra Front posted a video showing the operation in which
several Division 30 members were captured and the aftermath of the
U.S.-led coalition airstrike. Five men were seen being taken with their
hands behind their heads.
One of the alleged rebels captured by Nusra Front identified himself
as Zakaria Ahmad Safsouf from the northwestern village of Jbala saying
he was asked by a rebel commander to go to Aleppo where he guarded a
post. He said that after spending between 10 to 20 days in Aleppo,
fighters were sent to Turkey for a 45-day training program that ended
with each rebel being given an M16 assault rifle as well as $400 and 400
Turkish Liras ($150).
"They then send them back to Syria to fight the Nusra Front," the
man, with a light beard said while standing in front of what appeared to
be sand bags in a field. "There are senior American officers and
telecommunications equipment so that (rebels) communicate with the
coalition."
A masked Nusra Front fighter also appeared in the video saying his group has "cut of the hands of the West and Americans."
A U.S. military official seemed to deny any American connection to
Division 30, saying on Friday that no member of a U.S.-backed rebel
faction had been abducted.
And here is a report of the events from an Al Nusra beheader who posted this on Justpaste.it :
North Aleppo - Nusra stops US snake plans for future Shaam
"...And whoso allies with them (the disbelievers) is indeed one of them..."
Allah blessed the intelligence branch of Nusra in North Aleppo by
gaining some valuable information that led to the capture of some of the
members of "division 30". After interagetion it became clear for Nusra
what this filthy US backed group was up to. Also it became clear that
the US command center had direct contact with the commanders of
"division 30", thus making it for the US easy to immediately react with
their drones and fighter jets to attack the Mujahideen of #Nusra and
stopping them in their opportunity to remove this western backed cancer
that wants to sicken and eleminate the blessed Shaam and its people with
its filthy western policies, democracy and lifestyle.
Last night, after getting more clear and strong evidences that the
US-backed &amp; trained group "division 30" is trying to get a strong
foot on the ground in the form of slowly taking in some strategic
locations in North Shaam, to plan future attacks on the Islamic Jihadi
groups, like us from Jabhat al Nusra, we started planning an attack to
hit this dangerous group that wants to fights the Muslims for their
crooked master the US.
The plan was to strike "division 30" with a hit and run attack and
teach them a lesson that we don't tolerate any group that fights for a
foreign country and a western agenda. We don't tolerate that US
stretches it's long filthy capitalistic arm, in the form of such groups,
in to the blessed land of Shaam. So we payed them a visit to cutt off
this poisened arm &amp; we striked with the help of Allah with great
force.
By the grace of Allah we where afflicting them with heavy losses
&amp; imprisoned more of these fooled puppies, we heard them scream "we
will surrender, we will surrender". After a half hour of heavy fighting
between us and these puppets of the US, we, as expected, heard the sound
of a drone flying high in the sky collecting information to give
coordinations to fighter jets who would strike us in the locations we
where present. It was the first direct encounter between a US backed
group that got support by US drones &amp; jets and Nusra. Personally it
was something I wanted for a long time, fighting these slaves of US is
sweeter then fighting the nusayriya, it also teached us some valuable
lessons in how to improve our tactics on the ground against enemies whi
have superior air power.
The US strikes caused some of our dear brothers to be granted their
martyrdom and others got wounded. We ask Allah to grant them the highest
levels of Paradise &amp; we ask Allah to heal our wounded.
The hit and run attack thus came to it's last phase, because of the
sudden change of attacking force we from Nusra decided to make a
tactical retreat &amp; thus minimilaze the possible casualties that
could fall because of these strikes.
The attack is being seen as a victory for us, it granted us valuable
lessons, like the fact that these groups are the last hope for the US in
getting grip on the ground. The alliance that these groups form with
the US, thus showing where their loyalty lies and thus giving us the
full right to fight them. The weakness of these groups, that without the
overwhelming force of their master they are weak and nothing. That
these are the last steps the US is taking to replace blessed Shaam and
transform it in an secular democratic state that protects the US
interests in the area.
The attacks of the US took place and everything happens according a
specific reason, these attacks of the US showed every Muslim in Shaam
that the US immediately reinforced their new puppets on the ground. It
showed that the US is capable of striking fast when their interests
become in danger, thus shoing their true double face, thag of not
striking as fast against Bashar who has been terrorising the Syrian folk
for years.
And most important it teaches us that Allah is with the Muslims and
Mujahideen and that the future of Shaam will be for the Muslims.
So the upcoming days and weeks will teach us whether these stooges -
the so called "Army of the Nation" - will continue to serve as a slave
for their western master the US or return repenting to the Muslims. We
have clearly warned them with this, that was taken to protect Shaam and
it's people.
So let those who have been warned take heed.
And all glory belongs to Allah.http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=b12_1438507714ide3Turkish &amp; US backed rebel group &quot;Division 30&quot; left their HQ and fled to YPG/J Afrin. Text only.Syria, Turkey, US, Iraq, Rojava, Afrin, YPG, YPJ, Al Nusra, DaeshbagsTurkey: two soldiers killed in suicide attack blamed on PKKSun, 02 Aug 2015 05:45:10 -0400http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=765_1438508702
EuronewsTwo soldiers have been killed and 24 others wounded in a suicide attack in eastern Turkey.
It is claimed militants from the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, were behind it.
A tractor laden with explosives was used to strike a military police outpost in the Dogubeyayit district of Agri province, which borders Iran.
Last month, Turkey launched a campaign of air strikes on PKK camps
in northern Iraq. Officials say they are in response to increased violence.
There has been a further escalation of armed attacks by the militants since then.
At least 16 security force members have now been killed in violence, blamed on the PKK, over the past two weeks.
The leader of Turkey's pro-Kurdish opposition accuses the country's president of launching air strikes in Iraq and Syria to prevent Kurdish territorial and political gains.http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=765_1438508702EuronewsTurkey: two soldiers killed in suicide attack blamed on PKKEuronewsPalestinian teen killed at checkpoint during clashes following settler attack Sun, 02 Aug 2015 05:29:57 -0400http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=77e_1438507552
SetsyoufreeViolence / Attacks / Suppression of protests / Detentions - West Bank and Jerusalem
Israeli forces shoot, kill Palestinian teen near Ramallah
RAMALLAH (Ma'an) 31 July - Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian teen late Friday evening near Ramallah during clashes at Atara checkpoint, medical sources said. Laith al-Khaldi , 17, from Jifna village near Ramallah, was shot in the chest late Friday evening and later died from his injuries at Palestine Medical Complex near Ramallah, medical sources told Ma'an. The teen underwent two surgeries before succumbing to his injuries. Medical sources said he lost a lot of blood on his way to the hospital. Several other Palestinians were injured with rubber-coated steel bullets during the clashes.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=766789
Palestinians injured, one seriously, in clashes across Jerusalem
JERUSALEM (Ma'an) 31 July - Several Palestinians were injured, one seriously in clashes with Israeli forces throughout Jerusalem, in the aftermath of the settler attack that killed an infant in Duma village near Nablus, sources told Ma'an. In Shu'afat refugee camp, a Palestinian was seriously injured with a rubber- bullet to the head and 11 others were injured with rubber-coated steel bullets, five in the head, one in the chest, one in the back and four in their extremities. Another Palestinian suffered injuries to his hand after being hit by a stun grenade, Fatah spokesman for the camp Thaer Fasfous said. In al-'Issawiyah village, clashes continued for several hours at the entrance and center of the village, where Israeli soldiers fired tear gas, stun grenades, and rubber-coated bullets, Monitoring committee member Mohammad Abu al-Homos said. Abu al-Homos added that Israeli forces also sprayed skunk water at homes, causing Amna Mahmoud,93, and Umm Fadi Mahmoud,48, to have severe difficulty breathing. They were taken to local medical centers for treatment. Israeli forces fired tear gas at houses and land in al-'Issawiya causing a fire in several trees near a house. He added that Israeli forces closed the eastern entrance of the village with earth and rocks. Clashes also broke out in al-Swana neighborhood, where youths launched fireworks at Beit Orot settlement. In Beit Hanina, fire bombs were thrown at a settlement near the town. Clashes also broke out in al-Tur village and Silwan neighborhood in occupied East Jerusalem as well.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=766792
Palestinian attacked, detained for wishing an Israeli soldier a good day
RAMALLAH (WAFA) 29 July - A Palestinian youth was assaulted by an Israeli soldier as he was crossing Jabara police station to cross into Hebron, for simply wishing the soldier a 'good day', Wednesday reported the Palestinian detainees and ex-detainees affairs committee. The committee reported on Naser Jaber, 22, saying after he got his identity card checked by an Israeli soldier at the police station in order to allow him to cross into Hebron, Jaber wished the soldier a 'good day', when the soldier stopped him immediately, asking him, 'Am I your friend to wish me a good day?' The soldier then smacked Jaber on his chin and on the back of his head with his rifle, causing him serious cuts and fractures in his chin and jaw, as well as an intensive internal bleeding in his head. Jaber was then detained and left to bleed for two hours before transferring him to hospital for treatment. He was taken to Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital in Jerusalem, where he received medical care. Jaber was then transferred to Etzion Israeli jail in Hebron, however, the prison administration refused to take him due to the severity of his health condition. He was taken back to Jabara police station and back to Etzion jail shortly after. Jaber told the committee that he has not been provided with any additional treatment despite of his bad condition following the assault; he said that he suffers from severe pain in his head, a high fever, and walking problems.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&amp;id=28954
Group: Israeli settler runs over Palestinian in East Jerusalem
JERUSALEM (Ma'an) 31 July - An Israeli settler ran over a Palestinian with a car while he was performing prayers in an occupied East Jerusalem neighborhood on Friday, a local group said. Majdi Abbassi from the Wadi Hilweh Information Center in Silwan said that the settler deliberately ran over the man while he was praying in the Ras al-Amud neighborhood. Abbassi added that the settler fled the scene to a nearby settlement built on private land land confiscated from Palestinian residents of Ras al-Amud. He said that Israeli forces were deployed in the area and "provided the settler with protection." The current condition of the man is unknown.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=766771
Palestinians pray across streets of Jerusalem
JERUSALEM (Ma'an) - Hundreds of Palestinians performed Friday prayers in the streets of Jerusalem and at the gates of the Old City and Al-Aqsa Mosque as Israeli authorities prevented men under the age of 50 from entering the mosque. Israeli forces were deployed across Jerusalem streets leading to the Old City and Al-Aqsa Mosque. Worshipers performed group prayers across the Wadi al-Juz and Ras al-Amud neighborhoods, the Damascus Gate and Salah al-Din Street and the Moroccans Gate while others prayed at the gates of Al-Aqsa. Sheikhs and speakers at the prayers condemned the arson attack that took place early Friday morning, where 18-month-old Ali Saad Dawabsha was killed. Speakers said that Israel's lack of action and punishment of those responsible for the burning and murder of Muhammad Abu Khdeir, 16, last year and the burning of religious sites and Palestinian properties led to this "crime." Speakers also condemned Israeli preventing Palestinians from reaching the Al-Aqsa Mosque. In the Bab Hatta neighborhood, Israeli forces detained a Palestinian youth and took him to a police station for interrogation. Israeli forces assaulted a paramedic, identified as Arin al-Zaanin, at the Lions Gate, witnesses said.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=766779
Israeli settler runs over Palestinian firefighter near Hebron
HEBRON (Ma'an) 31 July - A Palestinian firefighter was lightly injured on Friday after being hit by an Israeli settler driving near Beit Hagai settlement south of Hebron, witnesses said. Locals said firefighter Imad al-Salayma was hit by a settler's car while Palestinian firefighters were putting out a fire in the woods near the settlement. Al-Salayma suffered from bruises. The Israeli radio said the fire was caused by the high temperatures, while Israeli newspaper the Jerusalem Post said it was caused by a Palestinian arson attack.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=766787
Israeli forces injure 4 Palestinians during clashes at Qalandiya
RAMALLAH (Ma'an) 31 July - Four Palestinian youths were injured with live and rubber-coated steel bullets during clashes with Israeli forces at the Qalandiya checkpoint on Friday, witnesses said. One of the youths sustained critical injuries. According to locals,Israeli forces opened fire with live rounds at one of the youths who was walking towards the checkpoint, hitting him in the back. Israeli soldiers used rubber-coated steel bullets, tear-gas and stun grenades during the clashes, while youths responded with rocks and empty bottles, witnesses said. . . . The Qalandiya checkpoint lies between the city of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem and is known for frequent upheaval. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs an average of 39 Palestinians are injured by Israeli forces per week.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=766777
Israel arrests eight Palestinians in West Bank, Jerusalem
HEBRON (WAFA) 29 July - At least eight Palestinians, including minors, were arrested on Wednesday by Israeli authorities from across the West Bank and Jerusalem, according to local and security sources. In Hebron area, in southern West Bank, Israeli army arrested three Palestinians, including two minors. They were identified as two minors Baraa and Ismail Jaber, and Nasir Jaber. The army also broke into Yatta, a nearby town, and arrested 21-year-old Mohammad Basal after raiding and searching his house. Meanwhile, Israeli police arrested a Palestinian from Hebron while he was present at his workplace in the town of Kafr Qasem, a hilltop city located about 20 km east of Tel Aviv, near the Green Line separating Israel and the West Bank. He was identified as Abdullah al-Halaikah, 24. Al-Halaikah's arrest came concurrent with an Israeli army raid on his house in Hebron's town of Ash-Shoukh. In Jerusalem, Israeli police arrested two Palestinian minors, both age 15, in the neighborhood of Ras al-Amoud, for purportedly throwing Molotov cocktails at homes in the nearby illegal settlement of Ma'ale Hazeitim . Israeli media sources said both minors will be referred to the Israeli court of magistrate in Jerusalem later on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Israeli police arrested Hazem al-Sa'iri after raiding his family's home located near Shu'fat refugee camp. He was taken to a detention and an interrogation center in Jerusalem. According to the Palestinian Prisoner's Club (PPC), "Arrest campaigns against Palestinian minors increased after mid-2014, particularly after recent tension in Jerusalem where hundreds of children have been detained for various periods of time." 'Israel arrests at least two Palestinian children in Jerusalem every day,' said PPC.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&amp;id=28944
Army kidnaps three Palestinians in Bethlehem
IMEMC/Agencies 30 July - Israeli soldiers invaded, on Thursday at dawn, the 'Aida refugee camp, north of the West Bank city of Bethlehem, and kidnapped three young Palestinian men. Eyewitnesses said several military vehicles invaded the refugee camp, before the soldiers broke into and searched a few homes, and kidnapped three Palestinians. The kidnapped have been identified as Sabri Darweesh, 'Atiyya Mohammad Abu 'Aker and Mos'ab Badawna. In addition, soldiers also invaded the family home of Laith Nabhan in an attempt to kidnap him, but he wasn't at home during the attack. Limited clashes took place between the invading soldiers and local youths.
http://www.imemc.org/article/72425
Detaining a 'wedding' bus, searching the passengers and arresting one young man after assaulting him
SILWAN, Jerusalem (SILWANIC) 31 July - The occupation forces arrested one Jerusalemite young man one Wednesday night after he passed through Al-Z'ayem checkpoint. Wadi Hilweh Information Center was informed that the occupation forces arrested the 19-year old Baha' Ahmad Abulhawa and severely beat him while he was passing through Al-Z'ayem checkpoint. Ahmad Abulhawa explained that his son was coming back from a wedding in a bus that was transferring dozens of people from the family including women, children and old people. The bus was stopped and the passengers were asked to get out and the forces searched the bus. When the passengers were allowed to go back to the bus, the forces provoked the young men by pushing them and assaulted some of them after they refused to be pushed . . . One officer told me that my son will be transferred to the police station in the settlement of Maale Adomim on charges of assaulting Israeli soldiers.
http://silwanic.net/?p=60493
The Must'aribeen unit arrests three Jerusalemites from the village of Esawyeh
SILWAN, Jerusalem (SILWANIC) 31 July - The Must'aribeen (undercover police) unit raided on Wednesday night the village of Esawyeh and arrested two young men and one child. Mohammad Abu Hummos, member of follow-up in the village of Esawyeh, explained that violent clashes broke out in some of the village's neighborhoods and the forces were stationed near the schools' area, the neighborhood of "Mahmoud" and the neighborhood of "Dari". During the clashes, the Must'aribeen unit broke in with their vehicle and fired live bullets in the air and then arrested a group of young men with the support of Special Forces. Abu Hummos added that the forces assaulted the young men and children during the arrest. He also added that many young men were injured with rubber bullets and shrapnel of sound grenades and others suffocated during the clashes. Wadi Hilweh Information Center was informed that the Musta'ribeen unit arrested the 18-year old Amir Mahmoud, Mohammad Kiswani and Majd Ahmad.
http://silwanic.net/?p=60489
Prisoners / Court actions
Israel legalizes torture against Palestinian prisoners; Israeli Knesset approves amendment allowing force feeding of prisoners on hunger strike
PCHR 30 July - On Thursday, 30 July 2015, the Israeli Knesset passed in the second and third readings an amendment to the so-called "Law to Prevent Harm of Hunger Strike" allowing force-feeding of prisoners. This step came in challenge of all international warnings to Israel to prevent passing the law which legalizes torture. The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) calls upon the international community to go beyond condemnation and denunciation and immediately act to stop the application of this law. The Israeli Minister of Internal Security, Gilad Erdan, from the Likud Party, presented the bill that allows force-feeding of Palestinian prisoners on hunger strikes to the Israeli Knesset. The amendment, rejected by the Israeli Medical Association, was supported by 46 members of the Israeli Knesset and rejected by 40 others. Commenting on the approval of the amendment, Raji Sourani, Director of PCHR, stated: "Hunger strike is the last resort for a Palestinian prisoner. When all other means fail, a prisoner resorts to struggle using his body cells and empty stomach in protest against inhuman detention conditions and to claim his legitimate rights as enshrined in international law, including international human rights law and international humanitarian law. This has become impossible after this latest amendment." Sourani added: "Approval of this amendment reflects the state of moral retrogression of Israel, which perpetrates violations of international human rights law and humanitarian law in cold blood with consent of state official bodies and the Knesset."
http://www.pchrgaza.org/portal/en/index.php?option=com_content&amp;view=article&amp;id=11186
Israel releases Palestinian detainee after 42-day hunger strike
+972 Blog 30 July by Noam Rotem - Even before the Knesset passed its force-feeding bill early Thursday morning, the state reached an agreement with Oday Stiti, a Palestinian administrative detainee who went on hunger-strike for 42 days. Stiti, a 24-year-old administrative detainee from Kafr Qud, a village near Jenin, was arrested on November 16, 2014 under administrative order, after which he went on hunger strike to protest his detention without being sentenced or put on trial. According to his attorney, Stiti was abused and humiliated by his prison guards, who would cook meat outside his cell in order to force an end to his strike . . . Until recently, says his attorney, the Israel Prison Service's preliminary condition for entering negotiations was an end to the hunger strike. On Wednesday, however, the two sides reached an agreement according to which Stiti's administrative detention would not be extended in exchange for an end to his hunger strike. He is scheduled to be released on October 20th. There are now three remaining Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike in Israeli prisons: Mohamed Allan, a 33-year-old lawyer from the village Einbus near Nablus, who is currently on his 43rd day of hunger strike; Musa Sufan, who is striking over a lack of medical treatment; and Abdullah Abu Jabar, who is on hunger strike to demand his deportation to Jordan upon completing his prison sentence.
http://972mag.com/israel-releases-palestinian-detainee-after-42-day-hunger-strike/109432/
Israel charges third Jewish suspect after 'miracle' church arson
JERUSALEM (AFP) 30 July - Israeli prosecutors on Thursday charged a third Jewish suspect in a probe linked to a June arson attack at a shrine where Christians believe Jesus performed the miracle of loaves and fishes. Authorities accused Moshe Orbach of writing and distributing a document detailing the "necessity" of attacking non-Jewish property and people as well as laying out practical advice to do so, the justice ministry said. The document was part of the evidence found during the investigation over the June 18 arson attack at the Church of the Multiplication in northern Israel. On Wednesday, charges were filed against Yinon Reuveni and Yehuda Asraf for allegedly setting fire to part of the church complex and writing "Idols will be cast out" on a nearby wall.
http://news.yahoo.com/israel-charges-third-jewish-suspect-miracle-church-arson-180133162.html
Gaza
Israeli forces kill one, injure another in northern Gaza
GAZA CITY (Ma'an) 31 July - Israeli forces killed a Palestinian and injured another on Friday after opening fire at them near Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza, sources told Ma'an. Medical sources told Ma'an that Mohammad Hamid al-Masri ,17, was shot by Israeli forces and died instantly, and another Palestinian was moderately wounded. Witnesses said the two were shot suddenly while walking near the buffer zone. . .
Israeli forces opened fire towards civilians in the "security buffer zone" on land and at sea on at least 23 occasions during the last two weeks, according to the United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. On two occasions, Israeli forces entered and leveled land near the fence inside the Gaza Strip.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=766790
Gaza man found under rubble one year later
IMEMC/Agencies 30 July - On Wednesday morning, a man's body was found under the rubble in Gaza, one year after the Israeli assault, during bulldozing works. Locals said that Mo'men Al-Batsh was found one year after his death under the rubble in Hayy Al-Tuffah, east of Gaza city. 18 members of Al-Batsh family were killed during last year's Israeli genocide on Gaza. Of the 18, six were children, and three were women, including one pregnant woman. Sixteen others were injured, including three children and three women. Four of the injuries were described by medical sources as "critical."
http://www.imemc.org/article/72421
Israel delays Qatari fuel bound for Gaza electricity plant
Middle East Monitor 30 July - The head of the Palestinian Energy Authority said on Thursday that the Qatari fuel bound for the sole Gaza electricity plant had arrived at the Karem Abu-Salem Crossing, but Israel has delayed its entrance to the territory, the Safa news agency has reported. "The fuel has arrived at the Israel side of the crossing," explained Omar Kitana, "but the Israeli authorities have put forward new conditions before it will be allowed into Gaza." He said that a fuel tank at the crossing exploded two months ago and major repairs were made to its infrastructure and other issues. "But the Israelis have just demanded new measures at the last minute. Such measures were not demanded before." To solve the problem, Kitana said that "intensive contacts" have been made with political parties, the Palestinian ministerial council and the civil affairs committee in order to allow the fuel to cross the border. "If the Israelis insist, though, we will be obliged to do what they say." The fuel at the crossing is enough for one day only, he pointed out, noting that the energy authority has agreed with Egypt to transfer the Qatari donation on a daily basis directly from an Egyptian port to the plant. The storage tanks at the plant were destroyed by the Israelis during last year's war on Gaza.
Meanwhile, Kitana pointed out that delivery of the fuel bought from Israel for the electricity plant was resumed today after 5million shekels (around $1.25m) was transferred from Gaza to the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah. The delivery of fuel is dependent on such payments to the PA. "If this continues, we will be able to run a third electricity generation unit and we will have 18 hours of electricity every day," he added.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/20127-israel-delays-qatari-fuel-bound-for-gaza-electricity-plant
Gaza destruction comes under forensic lens in Amnesty report
LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) 29 July by Tristan Martin - About two weeks into last year's conflict in Gaza, Palestinian photographer Jehad Saftawi began to tire of venturing into the city every day to take images of the wreckage. He decided instead to set up a video camera showing the Gaza skyline in his apartment, and livestream the footage, so that viewers could see for themselves. For several weeks, Saftawi became one of hundreds of Gazans to document the impact of "Operation Protective Edge", launched by Israel in response to rockets and mortar bombs fired by Hamas and other militant groups out of Gaza into Israel. "When we started the idea to have a livestream, we were not asking to achieve anything. We were just searching for any channel, for any way to the world, to make them understand (the situation) Gaza people are living in," Saftawi, 24, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in a Skype interview . . . 3D MODELING Using architectural techniques such as 3D modeling and two-point perspective, Forensic Architecture researchers were able to verify the time and location of numerous missile and tank strikes. "What is distinct about the 2014 conflict in Gaza, is that most testimony is not happening after the fact, but on the spot, real time record of what is happening ... Palestinians taking photographs or videos of what happens next to them and uploading them online," said Eyal Weizman from Forensic Architecture. By creating a 3D architectural model of Rafah, they were able to analyze smoke plumes and shadows, to verify the exact time and location of individual photos and videos. They could also assess the exact size of missiles moments before they reached their target. "The evidence for us is not within any single image. It is only through the architectural model that we are able to see the relation between images," Weizman said . . . Weizman said his team developed its technique of forensic analysis in response to the growing number of contemporary conflicts taking take place in urban areas. "When violence takes place in cities, people die in buildings, and buildings become evidence," he said. Amnesty said these techniques showed considerable potential, and could be used in other conflict zones that were hard for human rights activists to reach, such as Syria.
http://news.yahoo.com/gaza-destruction-comes-under-forensic-lens-amnesty-report-083333113.html
'Strong evidence of Israeli war crimes on 'Black Friday': Amnesty
JERUSALEM (AFP) 29 July by Sarah Benhaida - An analysis of an Israeli assault in the Gaza Strip following the capture of one of its soldiers during last year's war in the Palestinian territory shows "strong evidence" of war crimes, Amnesty International said Wednesday. The London-based rights group called for those responsible for the alleged offences to be prosecuted as it published a detailed analysis of the Israeli military operation using eyewitness accounts, satellite imagery, photos and videos. "There is strong evidence that Israeli forces committed war crimes in their relentless and massive bombardment of residential areas of Rafah in order to foil the capture of Lieutenant Hadar Goldin, displaying a shocking disregard for civilian lives," Philip Luther, director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Amnesty International, said in a statement. "They carried out a series of disproportionate or otherwise indiscriminate attacks, which they have completely failed to investigate independently." Israel strongly denied the accusations, calling Amnesty's report "fundamentally flawed in its methodologies, in its facts, in its legal analysis and in its conclusions."
http://news.yahoo.com/strong-evidence-israel-war-crimes-black-friday-amnesty-150646122.html
Video: Journalist Max Blumenthal on the 51-day war against Gaza
Middle East Eye 30 July - The 51-day war against Gaza last year differed from other military operations against the enclave in two respects. The amount of explosives and ammunition used by the Israeli military was unprecedented. By the military's own admission, it fired two bullets for every inhabitant of Gaza. And Israeli public opinion was wholly supportive. Anti-war protests were hounded off the streets by right-wing mobs. Colonel Ofer Winter, the national religious commander of the Givati Brigade, responsible for mass civilian casualties in Khuzaa and Rafah, was welcomed home as a hero, and a poll by the Israel Democracy Institute found that while 95 percent supported the war, 45 percent thought the army did not use enough force. Max Blumenthal, author of The 51 Day War , told MEE: "We see a steady transformation within Israeli society from labour socialism, which was responsible for the Nakba and the mass disposition of Palestinian society, into a religious nationalist form of government, and a major transformation within society where key figures fall under religious nationalists."
http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/video-journalist-max-blumenthal-51-day-war-against-gaza-1337022969
One year since Gaza, a photo a day: July 29, 2014
+972 - Female Israeli activists stage a protest against the attack on Gaza at Hatzor Air Force base, Israel, July 29, 2014. The activists wore white coveralls stained with red paint calling on the Israeli government to stop its air strikes and bring an end to the siege on Gaza, also expressing concern regarding the suffering of civilians in southern Israel. Signs in Hebrew read (from R to L): "Blood of children on your hands", "Bombing civilians will not bring security", "Stop the massacre in Gaza" and "Remove the siege". (Keren Manor/Activestills.org)
http://972mag.com/nstt_feeditem/one-year-since-gaza-a-photo-a-day-july-29-2014/
Sharon's Gaza disengagement was a necessary act of self-preservation / Chemi Shalev
Haaretz 29 July - The revisionist version of history has expunged from Israeli memories the untenable moral, material and human costs of occupation - On May 11, 2004, six Israeli soldiers were killed when their M-113 armored personnel carrier (APC) exploded in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza city. Islamic Jihad fighters were photographed celebrating around the bodies of the dead soldiers and mutilating them. The next day another five soldiers were killed when their identical APC was hit by RPG fire, near the Philadelphi route in Gaza's south, where they had been operating against Palestinian tunnels. In the efforts to extricate the dead bodies, another two Israeli soldiers were killed. Collectively known as ason hanagmashim, the disaster of the APCs, the incidents horrified the Israeli public. Gruesome pictures of Israeli soldiers crawling on their hand and knees in the sand in search of remains were broadcast on the nightly news. A few days later, the IDF launched Operation Rainbow, in which 60 Palestinians were killed, hundreds of homes were destroyed, the Rafah zoo was demolished and most of its animals killed. Israel was roundly condemned by the international community. This happened over a year before Israel withdrew from Gaza, but it has been more or less expunged from collective Israeli memory, along with the rest of Israel's troubled pre-disengagement history. Hardly anyone mentions the 124 Israelis killed inside Gaza in the five years before the withdrawal, nor the seven felled by 500 Qassam rockets and 3,000 mortars fired across the Green Line, nor the tens of thousands of soldiers called up every year to reserve duty to safeguard the 8,000 Jewish settlers living in the 21 settlements of Gush Katif and northern Gaza.
http://www.haaretz.com/beta/.premium-1.667443
Gaza poverty rate reaches 38.8% due to blockade
Middle East Monitor 31 July - The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) has revealed that the Israeli blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip for over eight years has resulted in the rise of poverty in the coastal enclave. The poverty rate for the first half of this year has now reached 38.8 per cent, said the NGO; 21.1 per cent of the poor are regarded as suffering from "extreme poverty." According to Anadolu, the PCHR said in a press release that the Israeli authorities continue to isolate Gaza and impose a strict ground and naval blockade on the territory. The NGO also noted that in addition to causing a rise in the poverty rate, the Israeli blockade has caused unemployment to rise to 44 per cent. This indicates the extent of the unprecedented economic deterioration suffered by the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/20146-gaza-poverty-rate-reaches-388-due-to-blockade
Extreme remote working at Gaza's 'weird news' bureau
Financial Times 29 July by John Reed - From his desk in a row of cubicles, Rawa Othman is scanning the shallows of the internet in search of what he calls "the weirdest news". "My main task is to search the web for the most interesting news: the tallest man in the world, the shortest woman, the oldest pregnant woman and so on," he says. The contractor, who works between 8am and 4pm, translates the items into Arabic for the Abu Nawaf Network, a client in Saudi Arabia. . . . Mr Othman's office is run by Work Without Borders, one of two outfits in Gaza City that offer work for overseas clients, mostly, but not only, in the Arab world . . . Mr Othman's office is run by Work Without Borders, one of two outfits in Gaza City that offer work for overseas clients, mostly, but not only, in the Arab world. Its clients pay the non-profit organisation, which is supported by Saudi donors, a rent of $200 per month per desk, allowing them to tap the talent of young Palestinians for web design, programming, translation and call-centre work. Offshoring , with its promises of a flat, connected world, is on the face of it a godsend for Gaza. . . .
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/35a69696-2bc1-11e5-acfb-cbd2e1c81cca.html#axzz3hYjsF0VM
The murder of infant Ali Saad Dawabsha
'Why did they burn a baby alive? What did he do?
Activestills 31 July Text and photos by Oren Ziv - Hours after the terrorist attack that took the life of Palestinian toddler Ali Saad Dawabshe, relatives and friends are still trying to make sense of what happened in the early hours of Friday morning. In the hours of the morning, the road leading from Nablus and the nearby settlements to the West Bank village of Duma is empty. Generally, when Palestinians attack Jewish settlers, the army hermetically seals the roads and raids the neighboring villages. Things are different this time around. Inside Duma, dozens gather around the two homes that were set ablaze in the early hours of Friday morning. In one of them, 18-month-old Ali Dawabshe was burned to death in an attack by Jewish Israelis. His mother, father and four-year-old brother Ahmed were badly wounded. The family's home is almost entirely burned, including the bedroom, the kitchen and part of the living room. It is hard to recognize the remains of furniture or even clothing. Relatives are busy trying to salvage whatever they can. Inside the charred bedroom, relatives have placed photographs of Ali on the ground as a makeshift memorial . . . A relative of the Dawabshe family who lives next door - and whose house was also targeted in the attack - also described the incident: "I woke up from a noise at 2 a.m. Luckily my children were sleeping in Nablus, otherwise they would have been killed," he explains while pointing at the burned-down bedroom next to the entrance of the house. He walks around the house restlessly, still staring incredulously at the soot-covered walls hours after the attack itself. "When I woke up," he continues, "I saw the entire house in flames. They threw something through the window and everything just lit up." . . . A veteran Palestinian photographer who made his way from Nablus tells me that this is the first time he has ever seen soldiers stopping settlers on the road. "And me, with my Palestinian license plate - they just let me pass without a problem." Despite the irregularity of stopping settler cars, the army has yet to arrest a single person for the attack. In West Bank funerals, the body is first brought to the family house, so that the women can part from the deceased. On Friday there was no family to bring the body to, so Ali is taken straight to the mosque in the village center, where hundreds arrived for Friday prayers. Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah comes to the village, flanked by a large Palestinian police force. The local residents, whose village receives very little attention from the Palestinian Authority, don't seem too happy with his visit.
http://972mag.com/why-did-they-burn-a-baby-alive-what-did-he-do/109508/
Relative of arson attack victims: I saw two masked men standing by as they burned
Haaretz 31 July by Amira Hass - A relative of the Daobasa family, whose house was torched early Friday in a terror attack that killed 18-month old Ali Saad Daobasa , has told Haaretz that he saw two masked men standing next to the infant's parents as they lay burning on the ground outside their home. Ibrahim Mohammed Daobasa is a relative and neighbor of the family. He told Haaretz how he ran to the burning house at 2 A.M. on Friday when he heard Sa'ad Daobasa, Ali's father, crying for help. Ibrahim, who is in his twenties, says that he was awake talking to his fianc'ee over the phone. The rest of the household was asleep. Suddenly he heard screaming from the Doabasa's house, which is 20 meters from his own. He managed to wake up his father and brother, and ran towards the screaming. "I saw Sa'ad and Reham burning on the ground. Next to them were two masked men, one beside each of them. They were dressed in jeans and black long-sleeved shirts," he told Haaretz. "Their faces were covered with a balaclava, with only the mouth and eyes visible. The street light shone directly on them. I was horrified by what I saw. They saw me and I was frightened and ran back home. I told my brother Bishar to get help and returned to Saad's house where I no longer saw the two masked men" said Ibrahim, adding that they were unarmed. When Ibrahim returned to the torched house he saw that Saad was unconscious. Ibrahim roused him and tried to extinguish the flames with his bare hands but was unsuccessful. He raised him on his feet and pulled him towards the house. "He told me to go and get his wife. I didn't think of anything, of the possibility that my clothes might catch on fire," he said. On the way, other family members took Sa'ad from him and he ran back to Reham who was unclothed, with a burning blanket stuck to her back. Glass from a shattered neon light was also stuck to her skin. She was also unconscious and Ibrahim roused her as well, telling her that he was her brother in order to calm her down. She said that her son Ahmed was inside and he promised to get him out right away. He led her to his family's yard, where his father took hold of her, leading her inside in order to cover her. She was bleeding. Ibrahim ran back to Reham's house and managed to extricate four-year-old Ahmed, whose leg was burning. Then he heard everyone talking about baby Ali, one-and-a-half years old, who was sleeping on the bedroom floor. People were bringing water in order to douse the flames but they spread so that it was impossible to enter the house and get the baby out. Palestinian firefighters arrived after forty minutes from the village of Burin. They found Ali's charred body inside. . . .
http://www.haaretz.com/beta/.premium-1.668947
Autopsy confirms infant was 'burned alive'
RAMALLAH (Ma'an) 31 July - The Palestinian Justice Ministry autopsy confirmed that the 18-month-old Palestinian who was killed in an arson attack on Friday was burned alive. Minister of Justice Salim al-Saqqa said there was soot inside of the baby's body, which indicates he was alive when his body caught fire. Al-Saqqa said the baby's body was completely blackened, his features had melted, parts of his extremities disintegrated from the burns, while parts of the lungs and rib cage had melted. The infant was killed when suspected Israeli settlers smashed the windows of two homes in Duma village near Nablus, throwing flammable liquids and Molotov cocktails inside and catching the homes ablaze. The infant, Ali Saad Dawabsha , was trapped inside the family's home as the fire spread and died shortly after. His parents and four-year-old brother were left with severe burns. The mother was in critical condition with third-degree burns covering 90 percent of her body, an Israeli doctor told public radio. The father had burns on 80 percent of his body and the son 60 percent, with all of their lives in danger.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=766785
West Bank murder: Leaders fail to address nature of settler violence
+972 mag 31 July by Natasha Roth - Friday morning's "price tag" arson attack in the West Bank village of Duma, which killed Palestinian baby Ali Saad Dawabsha and left his parents and brother in critical condition, has been labeled an act of terror by nearly all Israeli and Palestinian politicians alike . . . By and large, these responses sing from the same hymn sheet: all are big on condemnation, but most utterly fail to acknowledge the endemic nature of settler violence. Lacking, too, is any word on incitement by Israeli politicians. Bennett's calls to annex the West Bank to Israel, coupled with his infamous statement about having personally killed many Arabs, sit rather awkwardly with his announcement this morning. Shaked, for her part, posted a notorious Facebook update during last summer's Gaza war in which she called Palestinians "snakes" and suggested that Palestinian mothers and their houses "must go... Otherwise they will raise other little snakes there." The only statements from Jewish Israeli politicians that mention the government and army's systemic failures in stemming Jewish terrorism have come from either Meretz or the Joint List. In response to the murder, Meretz head Zehava Galon wrote that "the writing was on the wall" and criticized the right-wing leadership for being blind to the "direct line" between their failure to properly enforce the law in the West Bank and incidents such as last night's lethal attack . . . Ahmed Tibi, also of the Joint List, wondered this morning whether Avigdor Liberman's nationalist Yisrael Beiteinu still stood by their call to implement the death penalty for terrorists, satirically announcing that the houses of the settlers responsible for the arson would not be demolished by Israel . . . Since 2004, around 11,000 incidents of settler violence against Palestinians have been recorded, according to the statement from the State of Palestine. Hundreds of "price tag" attacks occur each year, the majority of which go largely unreported and involve, inter alia, arson, looting, defacement, destruction of olive trees and other acts of vandalism, as well as physical attacks on Palestinians. The scale of such attacks indicates the extent to which settler violence is part of the culture of the West Bank and not merely an issue of "bad apples."
http://972mag.com/west-bank-murder-leaders-fail-to-address-nature-of-settler-violence/109485/
Abbas doubts suspects in arson attack will be brought to justice
RAMALLAH (Ma'an) 31 July - President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday expressed doubt that Israel would bring the Israeli settlers suspected in the arson attack which killed a Palestinian infant and critically injured three others, to justice. Abbas said in a statement at the beginning of an emergency meeting of Palestinian leadership in Ramallah, that the international community should label settlement organizations in Israel and the West Bank as terrorist organizations . Abbas added that the killing of Dawabsha is a result of continuous Israeli settlement policies in the West Bank, and is not the first and won't be the last crime by Israeli settlers. Abbas reiterated that the issue will be taken to the International Criminal Court, and said that the PA will head to the UN to request protection for the Palestinian people. The United States listed price-tag attacks for the first time in the country's annual report on terrorism in 2013. In response to the arson attack, Israeli rights group B'Tselem said the infant's death was "only a matter of time." "Official condemnations of this attack are empty rhetoric as long as politicians continue their policy of avoiding enforcement of the law on Israelis who harm Palestinians, and do not deal with the public climate and the incitement which serve as backdrop to these acts," the group said in a statement. Under what B'Tselem has called an "undeclared policy of the Israeli authorities in response to these attacks as lenient and conciliatory," Israeli perpetrators of attacks are rarely tried and elementary police investigations are often never started.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=766788
Hamas: 'Settlers, soldiers' legitimate targets after infant killing
BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) 31 July - Palestinian political factions strongly condemned an arson attack carried out by settlers which killed a Palestinian infant on Friday, holding the Israeli leadership fully responsible for the brutal attack and calling for revenge. Hamas said that the killing of 18-month-old Ali Saad Dawabsha in the Nablus village of Duma makes all "Israeli soldiers and settlers legitimate targets for resistance." A spokesperson for the group, Hussam Badran, called for popular action in response to the killing and said Israeli crimes can only be stopped by "comprehensive resistance in all its forms." He also demanded that the Palestinian Authority stop "chasing fighters" and release all political detainees currently held in PA jails. The Islamic Jihad movement condemned the attack and said the Israeli government is responsible for protecting settlers who carry out acts of "terrorism."
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=766766
Israeli government's talk is cheap on 'price tag' violence
The Guardian 31 July by Harriet Sherwood - The killing of a Palestinian infant in a suspected arson attack by extremist Jewish settlers in the West Bank has been swiftly condemned as an act of terror by both Israeli and Palestinian leaders. This horrific act is not an isolated event, but part of a widespread campaign by extremist settlers against Palestinians and their property, and it will be instructive to compare the treatment of the perpetrators - if and when they are identified - with Palestinian youths accused of stone-throwing. Within hours of the attack, the Palestine Liberation Organisation released data showing a total of 369 attacks it says were committed by Israeli settlers from the beginning of 2015 up to July 27 - an average of more than 12 attacks each week. They include harassment and intimidation, the destruction and theft of olive trees, the poisoning of wells, stone-throwing, firing with live ammunition at people and property, assaults, verbal abuse, vandalism and the spraying of graffiti on property. B'Tselem , the Israeli human rights group which monitors settler activity, said that in the past three years, nine Palestinian homes in the West Bank had been set alight, and a Palestinian family had been severely burned when a Molotov cocktail was thrown at a Palestinian taxi. "In recent years, Israeli civilians set fire to dozens of Palestinian homes, mosques, businesses, agricultural land and vehicles in the West Bank. The vast majority of the these cases were never solved, and in many of them the Israeli police did not even bother to take elementary investigative actions," B'Tselem said in a statement.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/31/israel-talk-is-cheap-price-tag-violence
EU urges Israel to show 'zero tolerance for settler violence'
BRUSSELS (AFP) 31 July - The EU urged Israel Friday to show "zero tolerance" for settler violence after an arson attack blamed on settlers in the occupied West Bank left a Palestinian toddler dead. "The Israeli authorities should ... take resolute measures to protect the local population. We call for full accountability, effective law enforcement and zero tolerance for settler violence," a spokesperson for EU foreign affairs head Federica Mogeherini said in a statement. "The cold-blooded killing of Palestinian toddler Ali Dawabsha, presumably by extremist settlers ... highlights the urgent need for a political solution of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict," it added.
http://news.yahoo.com/eu-urges-israel-show-zero-tolerance-settler-violence-111033401.html
Land, property theft &amp; destruction / Ethnic cleansing / Nakba / Jewish immigration
Destruction of Palestinian villages is not a matter of perspective
Haaretz 31 July by Amira Hass - An NGO has issued a second edition of its successful Nakba map, showing 601 Palestinian villages and 194 Syrian villages destroyed in 1948 and 1967, respectively, as well as destroyed Jewish communities - The Zochrot NGO has published an updated Hebrew version of its dual-layer map of the Holy Land, highlighting destroyed communities set against the backdrop of currently populated areas. Called the Nakba Map, it is not limited to destroyed Palestinian villages but also includes destroyed Jewish and Syrian communities. Most Israelis are not familiar with the map, which hangs in nearly every Palestinian home and bears the dense dots that represent the numerous Palestinian villages that existed before 1948. Zochrot published the first version in 2013. The editors of the two maps, Noga Kadman and Eitan Bronstein Aparicio, remember Israelis' shock when they saw for the first time the Palestinian villages that are no longer here. They hadn't imagined the extent of Palestinian life before 1948 and the scale of destruction, said Kadman, whose groundbreaking research into Israeli ignorance about the destroyed villages pushed Bronstein Aparicio to produce the map . . . The map is not limited to 1948. Much earlier, village lands the Zionist movement had purchased were emptied out and destroyed. Mlabas (Petah Tikva), Shatta (Mizra) and Jinjar (Ginegar) are just three of 57 villages whose residents were expelled by Zionist settlers, like chattels one disposes of. The new research - based in part on research by Golan settler Yigal Kipnis, who examined Syrian censuses - revealed that Israel destroyed 194 Syrian villages and farms in 1967, containing 82,709 residents, and not 127 as previously thought. Israel also destroyed six Palestinian villages following the Six-Day War: three in the Latrun corridor; Qa'oun in the northern Jordan Valley; Al-Hama (today Hamat Gader - in the previous map it was errantly included among destroyed Syrian villages); and one place the mapping team found by chance: the tin-shack neighborhood of Arad Al Ramel in what is now the Hof Shemen industrial zone in Israel proper, where some 200 Palestinians lived, including 1948 refugees. Israel used the cover of war to dismantle the shacks and disperse the residents.
http://www.haaretz.com/beta/.premium-1.668820
Israel PM approves 300 settler homes in occupied West Bank
JERUSALEM (AFP) 29 July by Michael Blum - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approved Wednesday the "immediate" construction of 300 settler homes in the occupied West Bank as his government came under pressure from right-wing Jewish groups. A senior Palestine Liberation Organisation official denounced the plans to build new homes as "war crimes" and accused Israel of sabotaging peace efforts. West Bank settlements are major impediments to peace negotiations with the Palestinians, who see the land as part of a future independent state, and Western nations have called on Israel to halt such projects. Both the United Nations and the European Union condemned Wednesday's announcement. UN chief Ban Ki-moon said "settlements are illegal under international law, an impediment to peace and cannot be reconciled" with Israel's "stated intention to pursue a two-state solution," his spokesman said in a statement released in New York. Ban urged Israel "to halt and reverse such decisions in the interest of peace".
http://news.yahoo.com/israel-pm-approves-300-settler-homes-occupied-west-095351576.html
Israeli forces halt construction of water well in northern Jordan Valley village
NORTHERN JORDAN VALLEY (WAFA) 30 July - Israeli forces Thursday morning ordered halted the construction of a water well in Kardala, a village in the northern Jordan Valley near the city of Tubas, said a municipal source. Mayor of al-Maleh 'Aref Daraghmeh told WAFA Israeli forces raided Kardala, where they handed him an order to halt the construction of a UNDP-funded water well that has a capacity of 205 cubic meters. Daraghmeh added this was the second time he received a stop construction order for this well in particular, purportedly for being constructed without proper license. Khirbet Kardala is a small locality of 800 dunums. It has a population of 121 persons according to ARIJ's 2006 statistics. The village's population is mainly involved in agricultural activities.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&amp;id=28964
Israel hands demolition, stop construction notices for nine residential structures
HEBRON (WAFA) 29 July - Israeli forces Wednesday handed Palestinians in Masafer Yatta, an area to the south of Hebron, notices notifying them of their intentions to demolish two residential tents and ordering them to stop the construction work on seven residential structures, according to a local activist. Coordinator of the anti wall and settlement popular committee in southern Hebron, Rateb al-Jabour, informed WAFA that forces stormed two areas in Yatta and handed locals there notices ordering them to stop the construction work on their homes, which shelter them and their families. The locals who received notices were identified as Ahmad, Jibril, Mahmoud, Jamil, Ali, Yasir, Khalil, and Ismail Abu Ira'am. Forces further handed Othman Abu Qabita a notice informing him of their intentions to demolish his two residential tents, which shelter him and his family of 11 members.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&amp;id=28956
A settler attempts to break into Al-Aqsa in her wedding gown!!!
SILWAN, Jerusalem (SILWANIC) 30 July - One female settler attempted on Wednesday to break into Al-Aqsa Mosque in her wedding gown to bless her marriage inside Al-Aqsa Mosque . The Islamic Awqaf department explained that a female settler was wearing her white wedding gown and attempted to break into Al-Aqsa Mosque through Dung Gate but the police prevented her. The Islamic Awqaf added that the "bride" changed her gown into regular clothes and broke into Al-Aqsa with a group of settlers including the sons of the Rabbi Yehuda Glick. The group attempted to practice their religious rituals immediately after breaking into the Mosque but the police stopped them and made them leave through Al-Silsileh Gate after Al-Aqsa guards complained. The police arrested two females immediately after leaving Al-Aqsa Mosque.
http://silwanic.net/?p=60424
Yehuda Glick enters Al Aqsa under armed guard
IMEMC/Agencies 30 July - Controversial Israeli right-wing rabbi activist Yehuda Glick was escorted, under armed protection, into the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound Wednesday, as groups of right-wing Israelis entered the area for the third time this week. The raid came despite the UN's condemnation earlier this week of "religious provocations" in and around holy sites in the Old City of occupied East Jerusalem. Sources in the Islamic Endowment Department told Ma'an News Agency that Glick as well as a group of 63 rightists stormed the compound and carried out religious rituals. Israeli forces were deployed in and around the compound to secure the raid, the department added. Separately, an Israeli bride and groom attempted to enter the Al-Aqsa Mosque but were prevented by Israeli police, and two Palestinian women were detained as they were leaving the compound.
http://www.imemc.org/article/72412
VIDEO: The journey to Al-Aqsa Mosque
Middle East Eye 31 July by Oren Ziv, Yotam Ronen &amp; Faiz Abu Rmeleh - It's a daily struggle for Palestinians trying to get from the West Bank to Jerusalem - especially for Muslims who want to attend prayers at al-Aqsa Mosque on Fridays. Held sacred by bothJews and Muslims, access for Muslims to al-Aqsa has regularly been limited to women and men over the age of 40 or 50, particularly during times of political tensions. Meanwhile tourists and Jews have been able to enter the compound on weekdays, escorted by police, and are prohibited from praying or performing religious ceremonies. For Palestinians living in the West Bank, though, even before trying to gain access to the Aqsa complex once in Jerusalem they struggle with the journey to the city, having to cross through Israeli checkpoints. People start to line up early in the morning, but getting past the Israeli army - who use age, family background and security profiling to decide who crosses - can be difficult. Those not allowed to pass, however, find other ways.
http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/video-journey-al-aqsa-mosque-228201677
Israeli forces evacuate 200 activists squatting on former West Bank settlement
Haaretz 30 July by Chaim Levinson - Israeli security forces overnight cleared some 200 activists squatting on the ruins of the former settlement of Sa-Nur in the northern West Bank, a site which was evacuated during the 2005 disengagement. The activists, which included dozens of former residents as well as MK Bezalel Smotrich, reentered the site overnight Tuesday. They set up camp in a former British fortress which remained intact. Security forces arrived at the scene about two hours after the activists, and were told that the residents had decided to return home after 10 years. The activists demanded that the state form a committee to discuss the return of settlers to northern Samaria in return for their leaving the place peacefully.
Meanwhile, Israeli authorities completed the demolition of two buildings in Beit El Wednesday, five years after demolition orders were first issued. The end of the demolition work in the Dreinoff buildings also marked the end of 48 hours of confrontations between settlers and Israeli security personnel, which began on Monday when the IDF occupied the buildings and cleared it from teenagers, who were planning on barricading themselves in the building to prevent the demolition. On Tuesday, the clashes resumed when police special forces rushed into Beit El and positioned themselves near the building.
http://www.haaretz.com/beta/.premium-1.668630
Israel receives 200 French immigrants; tens of thousands expected worldwide
IMEMC/Agencies 30 July - Two-hundred French Jewish immigrants have arrived in Israel, according to a Tuesday statement issued by The Jewish Agency for Israel. The newcomers - half of whom are children - were brought to the self-proclaimed Jewish state on a flight jointly organized by the agency and Israel's Immigration Ministry, the statement noted. Immigration Minister Zeev Elkin said his ministry hoped to receive between 30,000 and 35,000 additional Jewish immigrants from around the world, the statement added, according to Press TV/Al Ray. Over the past five years, Israel has taken in more than 20,000 French Jewish immigrants, including 7,500 in 2014 and 4,260 in 2015.
http://www.imemc.org/article/72413
Other news, analyses
New ministers sworn in following Thursday's reshuffle announcement
RAMALLAH (Ma'an) 31 July - Five new ministers in the Palestinian cabinet were sworn in on Friday at the President's headquarters in Ramallah in the presence of President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah. The five ministers are as follows: . . . The swearing-in ceremony was done without media coverage out of respect to the Palestinian infant who was killed when suspected Israeli settlers torched a family home on Friday, leaving the child's mother and father in a critical condition. The new ministry positions were announced on Thursday. There had been talk of a government reshuffle for months, but in mid-June it was announced at a Fatah council meeting that the entire government would soon be dissolved. The reshuffle is an attempt to preserve and reform the unity government, instead of dissolving it. The unity government was formed in June 2014 in a bid to end division between the Fatah-led PLO and Hamas, but has so far been unsuccessful in doing so. The Hamas movement said Thursday that it disapproved of the unity government's reshuffle and called the move "unconstitutional and outside consensus." Hamas spokesperson, Sami Abu Zuhri, added that the reshuffle represents a coup on the unity deal and said that the PA has become a separatist government. Officials told Ma'an in June that Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah's resignation was an imminent part of the reshuffle, but it has yet to officially materialize.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=766784
Abbas meets newly appointed US Consul General in Jerusalem at headquarters in Ramallah
RAMALLAH (WAFA) 30 July - The new American Consul General in Jerusalem Donald Blome Thursday joined the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in an introductory meeting at the presidential compound in Ramallah. Blome replaced Michael Ratney, who serves now as the U.S. Special Envoy for Syria), officially assumed his duties last Monday. Blome said in an official statement which WAFA received, "I assured the President of America's commitment to the Palestinian Authority and to two-states for two peoples. I also noted the importance of further enhancing our relationship with the Palestinian people." Prior to this position, Blome worked as Director of the State Department's Office of Arabian Peninsula Affairs from 2013 - 2015. He had served in a variety of posts in the Near East and South Asia, including as Political Counselor at US Embassy Kabul from 2012 - 2013.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&amp;id=28963
Tobacco eats away West Bank agricultural lands
JENIN (Al-Monitor) 30 July by Aziza Nofal - Four years ago, Moazzaz Fares used to grow vegetables. Now he is cultivating tobacco on his 10 dunams of land - doubling his financial return. Fares told Al-Monitor that growing tobacco is inexpensive and uncomplicated, yet profitable. Unlike vegetables, tobacco does not require a lot of water, and fertilizer is not affected by weather fluctuations and is very easy to market. Fares is not the only farmer who has shifted from the cultivation of vegetables and other crops to tobacco. In the town of Baqa ash-Sharqiyya, east of Tulkarm, tobacco is the main crop grown by dozens of farmers. As farmers seek first and foremost to make a decent profit, in the difficult economic conditions, tobacco cultivation is threatening to take over agricultural lands. Officials have yet to form a plan to regulate the industry. Tobacco cultivation - which has spread rapidly since 2012 - depletes the soil and the Palestinian economy, particularly since the cultivation is unregulated and is expanding at the expense of other crops in the most fertile agricultural lands in the northern West Bank, more precisely in Jenin. Fares is well aware of that but has no other alternative, he said.
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/07/west-bank-tobacco-cultivation-agriculture.html
In the West Bank, a rough start doesn't deter new Arab TV channel
NPR 30 July by Daniel Estrin - One out of every five people in Israel is Arab. But Israeli TV only sets aside a few hours a week for Arabic-language programming. And Arabs in Israel don't have many opportunities to see their own cities and lives reflected on the screen. That's the idea behind a new TV channel. It's called Palestine 48, a reference to the year Israel was founded. The channel's new morning show is called Our Morning Is Different . It's like an Arabic version of the Today show, with a breezy opening jingle and stock footage of sunlight peeking through a field . . . They start with a weather report: Nazareth, 30 degrees Celsius. Haifa, 29. The temperatures are all pretty much the same. But this is actually one of the most satisfying parts of the show for co-host Liddawi, because he's talking about Israeli cities with significant Arab populations. "I'm not a weather reporter," Liddawi says. "But it's nice to say the name of the city: Tarshiha. Nasara. Haifa. That's Tarshiha, Nazareth and Haifa. Just to mention these words, it's something for us. For me." . . . It started broadcasting last month from Nazareth, an Arab city in Israel. There was a cooking segment and field reports on historical and religious sites. But just days after Palestine 48 went on the air, Israel ordered the studio closed. It had no Israeli operating permit. And the backing from Abbas violates Israel's ban on the Palestinian Authority establishing organizations in Israel. Israel's public security minister said he wouldn't let the Palestinian government gain a "foothold" in Israel. So now Palestine 48 broadcasts from the roof of a hotel in the West Bank city of Ramallah. The hosts are their same bubbly selves - but without the field reports from Israel, they're struggling to fill airtime.
http://www.kpbs.org/news/2015/jul/30/in-the-west-bank-a-rough-start-doesnt-deter-new/
Two Haifa cinemas refuse to allow screening of films about Palestinian Nakba
Haaretz 31 July by Nirit Anderman - Cinematheque, Tikotin Museum claim technical difficulties in renting hall to NGO Zochrot, but anonymous requests from group were filled immediately - Two municipal cultural institutions in Haifa - the Haifa Cinematheque and the Tikotin Museum - refused in recent months to allow the group Zochrot to rent a theater to screen short films that were shown in the past at the International Festival for the Nakba . . . The Nakba film festival, produced by Zochrot, has already taken place twice in the Tel Aviv Cinematheque. The second time, in November 2014, the previous minister of culture, Limor Livnat, threatened to remove her ministry's support for the Tel Aviv Cinematheque, claiming that it is not reasonable for "an organization supported by the State of Israel to permit an entire festival devoted to preaching that the day of the establishment of the State of Israel is a day of mourning." . . . Rosenberg says that she "found it strange that the Haifa Municipality, which boasts of coexistence between Palestinian and Jewish residents, systematically, and even formally and openly, refuses to allow a discourse about complex issues that definitely have a place, and excludes them in a manner befitting benighted regimes.
http://www.haaretz.com/beta/.premium-1.668834
New film highlights struggles of gay Palestinians in Israel
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) 30 July by Isaac Scharf and Miriam Berger - During last summer's Gaza war, Khader Abu Seif was living with his then Israeli boyfriend in Tel Aviv, wondering whether Hamas rockets could reach them from the coastal strip. He thought yet again of the dichotomy of his life as a gay Arab Israeli citizen considered an outcast by the Palestinian society for his sexuality and viewed with unease by some Israelis for his brand of nationality. The rockets were not the only thing that made him feel unsafe. Outside, Israeli extremists rallied on the streets against Hamas' attacks with chants of "Death to Arabs." Abu Seif was afraid to speak Arabic, his mother tongue, in his native Tel Aviv, the Middle East's most gay-friendly city. For the 27-year-old, a well-known socialite in Tel Aviv's LGBT community, the city is a haven for gay men, but Abu Seif says he considers himself a Palestinian and that as such, he can never fully integrate. His struggles, along with those of two other protagonists are the subject of "Oriented," a new Israeli documentary, touted as the first to focus on gay Palestinian citizens. The privately funded film is British director Jake Witzenfeld's first feature documentary. It premiered in June at the Sheffield Film Festival in England and the Los Angeles Film Festival in the United States but has not made it to the Middle East yet.
http://news.yahoo.com/film-highlights-struggles-gay-palestinians-israel-064633490.html
Man stabs several people at Jerusalem gay pride parade
JERUSALEM (AP) 30 July by Miriam Berger - Revelers dancing and singing through the streets of Jerusalem during the holy city's annual gay pride parade were left shrieking in pain and panic Thursday night, as an anti-gay extremist lunged into a group leading the march and stabbed six people, Israeli police and witnesses said. Police said the attacker, Yishai Schlissel, who was arrested at the scene for Thursday's attack, had been released from prison just three weeks ago, after serving a sentence for stabbing several people at the parade in 2005. Six people were wounded in the attack, two of them seriously, Eli Bin of Israel's emergency service said.
http://news.yahoo.com/man-stabs-several-people-jerusalem-gay-pride-parade-163839733.html#
ICC postpones visit to Palestine
IMEMC/Agencies 29 July - A Palestinian diplomat on Monday announced that a planned visit to Palestine later this month by a delegation from The Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC) would be postponed. "The ICC has informed the Palestinian government of the postponement of the delegation's visit - initially slated for the end of July - to next fall," Nabil Abu Zened, Palestinian ambassador to the Netherlands, told Palestinian public radio. The court, he added, had attributed the move to technical and procedural reasons. World Bulletin reports, via Al Ray, that Abu Zened went on, however, to suggest the delay may have been due to Israeli pressure.
http://www.imemc.org/article/72402
US delivers F-16s to Egypt ahead of Kerry visit: embassy
CAIRO (AFP) 30 July - The United States began Thursday delivery of eight F-16 fighter jets to Egypt, according to its embassy in Cairo, the first since Washington fully lifted in March a freeze on arms delivery. The operation comes as Secretary of State John Kerry's prepares to visit Cairo for a "strategic dialogue" Sunday amid a warming in ties that were strained after the army ousted president Mohamed Morsi in 2013. Following the overthrow of Morsi, Egypt's first freely elected leader, Washington froze $1.3 billion (1.2 billion euros) in annual military aid to Egypt. It fully resumed assistance in March, and Cairo took delivery of two US fast missile boats last month. Washington had already delivered 10 Apache helicopters in December.
http://news.yahoo.com/us-delivers-f-16s-egypt-ahead-kerry-visit-140719441.html
Go ahead, tear down the High Court - watch the occupation crumble / Noam Sheizaf
+972 29 July - In response to the demolition of two high-profile settlement buildings, an MK in the ruling coalition calls for the destruction of the High Court itself. He may not have thought that one through - Israel's High Court of Justice on Monday ordered the state to demolish two apartment buildings in the settlement of Beit El. Israeli police and military forces carried out the order within hours, leading to physical clashes with settlers and exceptionally harsh attacks on the court by right-wing members of the government. Human rights groups hailed the ruling as a victory. But today of all days, it is important to remember that the High Court itself is one of the most important cornerstones propping up the occupation. The Israeli High Court of Justice has never written a single ruling (not even one!) that has come close to putting a wrench in the gears of the occupation. Quite the opposite. The court's justices have given their stamp of approval to each and every instrument the State of Israel uses to impose its apartheid regime on the Palestinian population. The argument that settlements are not a violation of international law has been endorsed by the High Court. Demolishing Palestinian homes as collective punishment meted out on innocent family members - approved by the court. Imprisonment without charge or trial , even of minors - approved. Deportations - approved . Extrajudicial assassinations - approved . Torture - approved . The separation fence and its route that annexes occupied territory - approved . Exploiting Palestinian natural resources in the West Bank for the benefit of Israel and Israelis - approved . The High Court's primary role is building a legal framework in which all of those things can be carried out: . . . .
http://972mag.com/go-ahead-tear-down-the-high-court-watch-the-occupation-crumble/109413/
The Postman knocks twice: Second thoughts about the Third Temple / Avraham Avi-hai
JPost 30 July - You will have to cooperate with me as you read this. It is an exercise in imagination. The time: Many decades into the future The place: Jerusalem The scenario: The United Rabbis of Israel, a splinter group from the Union of Orthodox Rabbis, has decided to build the Third Temple on an artificially built extension of the Temple Mount (Haram esh-Sharif), with the agreement on the United Sunna and Shia Islamic League . . . Breaking news: o Bloody clashes between followers of the United Rabbis and the ultra-Orthodox Nachmanites, and between followers of the United Rabbis and the super-ultra-Orthodox Menachemites, have rocked Jerusalem. Each of the two ultra-Orthodox groups is demanding that construction begin only when its deceased rabbi returns and approves the Third Temple project. The Architects Union has declared a strike of all its members in protest. o Fifty ambulances have been ferrying the injured to all hospitals in the area of the Holy City . . . o The United Muslim States has offered to mediate the dispute, and warns that no violence will be allowed to spill over onto the existing Temple Mount. Nepal has offered medical aid, and Haiti is ready to rush a field hospital . . .. Decades afterwards: The Israel government supported by the combined financing of oligarchs from the failed United States of America, diamond merchants and casino and slot-machine czars has built the Third Temple . . . A decade later: o Residents of all quarters of Jerusalem's Old City have complained to the Ministry of Health over the slow collection of cow, sheep and goat droppings from the area. Some entrepreneurs have been importing made-in-former-China "genuine Lapland" snowshoes . . . o The Chief Priesthood has launched an investigation of the bird and animal suppliers' price-setting cartel. Crime societies are reputed to have maintained control in order to launder money from their defecation-gathering operations. o Sleep specialists have been called in to study the effect of hundreds of animals being herded into the area in the early morning hours. The lowing of the animals before dawn has lowered the abilities of the thousands of students living in the dormitories around the yeshivot which occupy the Jewish Quarter. . . .
http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/The-Postman-knocks-twice-Second-thoughts-about-the-Third-Temple-410702
groups.yahoo.com/group/f_shadi (listserv)
http://www.theheadlines.org (archive)
- See more at: http://mondoweiss.net/2015/08/palestinian-checkpoint-following#sthash.4pcYpsFp.xnBY7uTJ.dpufhttp://www.liveleak.com/view?i=77e_1438507552SetsyoufreePalestinian teen killed at checkpoint during clashes following settler attack The Synagogue of Satan, The Apartheid State of Israel, Palestine, Palestinians, Settlers, Nazis, Racists, Fascists, Zionists, Murderers, Animals,Ukraine's Plan CSun, 02 Aug 2015 04:13:31 -0400http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=952_1438502945
flying_tank
By Pavel Shipilin
30 July 2015
Translated from Russian by J.Hawk
"We can't live on credit anymore. If our economy doesn't restart we'll have only the third option remaining to us: fall to our knees before Moscow. That realization will come. To everyone. The important thing that it not come too late." said Yuriy Lutsenko, president's faction leader in the Rada.
And yet they are outraged by our permanent interest in Ukrainian politics.
Nobody ever doubted that Ukrainians believe Russia to be the aggressor, and consider themselves to be a separate nation. They've always known that once things get really bad, they can come back and show a little contrition--we're their own, they'll forgive us.
Plan A was to live on their own. Didn't work out.
Plan B was to live off the West. Isn't working out.
Plan C I am very wary of. And not because we are offended and want apologies before we start re-establishing relations. Well, maybe we do want apologies, but not from the current Kiev rulers.
The main problem is that we've finally figured it out: any Ukrainian plan represents a tactically clever attempt to deceive.
Plan A was to deceive own population. Plan B was to deceive Europe. And, of course, Plan C aims at deceiving us.
However, since Ukraine became independent not only they changed, we've changed too. We don't want to share or make presents. Remember days of glory while sitting on a bench together. Call each other a brotherly nation and break bread together.
Because contemporary Ukrainians, it turns out, view brotherhood in their own way. Not half a loaf but the whole thing. And without prepayment. On the rights of a poorly brought up younger brother, capricious, insistent, and ready to tell everyone family secrets.
So now I don't even know how to react to Poroshenko's proposal which he transmitted through Lutsenko. Because I did not expect to hear an offer to capitulate so soon. It means the crisis is deeper than it looks from the outside. Everyone surely realizes that Lutsenko did not express his own opinion but carried out an assignment from the president with whom he must be pretty close. He rolled out a trial balloon, so to speak.
And the proposal reads as follows: can we get free stuff if Ukraine returns into Russia's orbit?
We can clearly see the ears of Gauleiter Jeffrey Pyatt behind Plan C--Poroshenko himself could not have come up with that. Washington is not abandoning the hope of drawing Russia into financing the collapsing Ukrainian economy. And as soon as possible.
No, guys, there will be no free stuff, your clever Plan C is doomed to failure. Please inform the Americans.
J.Hawk's Comment: Even though, strictly speaking, Lutsenko said these words in context of encouraging Rada deputies to vote for reforms which might yet prevent the Plan C from becoming a necessity, given that even Lutsenko probably doesn't believe any "reforms" the Rada might come up with at this late date are going to produce the miracle Ukraine needs. Therefore the Shipilin's argument this was a trial balloon is a plausible, even likely explanation of what Lutsenko was trying to do even as he was couching his rhetoric in politically correct references to Russia as aggressor.
Moreover, this is not the only trial balloo...excuse me, trial Hindenburg to be rolled our in recent days. Gordon's "Donbass is our ball and chain" sour grapes rant amounts to pretty much the same thing--how about we give Moscow what it wants and call it a victory.
Shipilin is also probably correct about Pyatt prodding Poroshenko to make that call. I've written earlier that the ideal world from West's perspective is Ukraine subsidized by Russia and in a free trade pact with EU/US. Except now there is a sense of urgency which is indicated by the withdrawal of Azov and Donbas battalions from Shirokino over Ukrainian Nazis vociferous protests but with Pyatt's support.
Finally, Shipilin's Plan A/B/C framework describes Ukraine's politics of the last 25 years to a tee. Ukraine's lack of a genuinely patriotic state-forming elite means it is not a country that's capable of existing except as a protectorate and protectorates, alas, cost money to maintain. I don't think many people in Washington, Berlin, and Brussels realized just how great the upkeep was going to be. Even keeping Ukraine from defaulting is too much of a burden for them to sustain for a longer period of time. Therefore the West is resorting to sticks and carrots (US abrupt expansion of sanctions list likely has more to do with the final Ukrainian settlement than with the MH17 tribunal vote) in order to get Russia to play ball and rescue Ukraine from itself and from the West once again.
Source:
http://fortruss.blogspot.sk/2015/07/ukraines-plan-c.htmlhttp://www.liveleak.com/view?i=952_1438502945flying_tankUkraine's Plan CUkraine's,PlanCPalestinian infant burned to death in West Bank arson attack; IDF blames 'Jewish terror'Sun, 02 Aug 2015 03:40:24 -0400http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=29a_1438500915
saudisoldier2A one-and-a-half year-old Palestinian infant was burned to death and three of his family members were seriously wounded early Friday morning after a house was set on fire in the West Bank village of Douma, near Nablus.
According to witnesses , at roughly 4 A.M. Friday morning, two masked men arrived at two homes in the village of Douma, not far from the settlement of Migdalim. They sprayed painted graffiti reading "revenge" and "long live the Messiah" in Hebrew, breaking the windows of the homes and throwing two firebombs inside.
One of the two homes was empty at the time, but there was a family in the second: 18-month-old Ali Saad Dawabsheh, his father Sa'ad, mother Reham, and 4-year-old Ahmed.
The four were evacuated to a hospital in Nablus in the West Bank and then to the burns unit at Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer.
The Israel Defense Forces subsequently confirmed that 18-month-old Ali died in the attack, and that Jewish extremists are suspected to be behind the attack.
"This attack against Palestinian civilians is a barbaric act of terrorism," IDF Spokesperson Lt. Col. Peter Lerner tweeted soon after the attack. Forces combed the area in an attempt to find the perpetrators.
According to eyewitnesses, the father was able to rescue his wife and 4-year-old son, but could not locate the baby, Ali, in the darkness.
Local resident Mesalem Daoubasah, 23, said he saw four settlers fleeing the scene, with several local residents following in pursuit. According to Daoubasah, the settlers fled toward the settlement of Ma'aleh Ephraim.
Daoubasah added that other witnesses saw the settlers smash the windows of the house before throwing firebombs inside.
Following the attacks, fear of rioting and disorder at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem prompted restrictions on Muslim worshippers, with only those over 50 being permitted to enter the compound.
Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), Maj. Gen. Yoav Mordechai spoke with senior Palestinian officials and reiterated Israel's condemnation of the event.http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=29a_1438500915saudisoldier2Palestinian infant burned to death in West Bank arson attack; IDF blames 'Jewish terror'Saudi, Russia, Syria, Ukeraine, shiite, sunni, barrack, obama, potus, foreign, iran, iranian, fsa, saa, jnusra, houthi, jan, isis, iraq , king , assad, al saud , persia , israel, houthi"Now its Israel's turn"..., Nuclear Non Proliferation!Sun, 02 Aug 2015 01:38:09 -0400http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=261_1438492732
omniradarhttp://www.veteranstoday.com/2015/08/01/now-its-israels-turn-zarif-wrote-in-guardian/
By GPD on August 1, 2015
"The whole Mid East must rid itself of weapons of mass destruction". ... Zarif
Javad Zarif Iran Foreign Minister in the "columnists" section of the Guardian says "Iran has signed a historic nuclear deal - now it's Israel's turn". Zarif believes that "If the Vienna deal is to mean anything, the whole of the Middle East must rid itself of weapons of mass destruction"
We - Iran and its interlocutors in the group of nations known as the P5+1 - have finally achieved the shared objective of turning the Iranian nuclear programme from an unnecessary crisis into a platform for cooperation on nuclear non-proliferation and beyond.
"And while Iran has received the support of some of its Arab friends in this endeavor, Israel - home to the Middle East's only nuclear weapons programme - has been the holdout. In the light of the historic nuclear deal, we must address this challenge head on."
The nuclear deal reached in Vienna last month is not a ceiling but a solid foundation on which we must build. The joint comprehensive plan of action, as the accord is officially known, cements Iran's status as a zone free of nuclear weapons. Now it is high time that we expand that zone to encompass the entire Middle East.
Iran's push for a ban on weapons of mass destruction in its regional neighbourhood has been consistent. The fact that it precedes Saddam Hussein's systematic use of WMDs against Iran (never reciprocated in kind) is evidence of the depth of my country's commitment to this noble cause.
And while Iran has received the support of some of its Arab friends in this endeavor, Israel - home to the Middle East's only nuclear weapons programme - has been the holdout. In the light of the historic nuclear deal, we must address this challenge head on.
"I sincerely believe that the nuclear agreement between my country - a non-nuclear-weapon state - and the P5+1 (which control almost all nuclear warheads on Earth) is symbolically significant enough to kickstart this paradigm shift and mark the beginning of a new era for the non-proliferation regime."
One of the many ironies of history is that non-nuclear-weapon states, like Iran, have actually done far more for the cause of non-proliferation in practice than nuclear-weapon states have done on paper.
Iran and other nuclear have-nots have genuinely "walked the walk" in seeking to consolidate the non-proliferation regime. Meanwhile, states actually possessing these destructive weapons have hardly even "talked the talk", while completely brushing off their disarmament obligations under the non-proliferation treaty (NPT) and customary international law.
That is to say nothing of countries outside the NPT, or Israel, with an undeclared nuclear arsenal and a declared disdain towards non-proliferation, notwithstanding its absurd and alarmist campaign against the Iranian nuclear deal.
Today, in light of the Vienna deal, it is high time that the nuclear "haves" remedied the gap by adopting serious disarmament measures and reinforcing the non-proliferation regime.
It is time for the "haves" to finally come to terms with a crucial reality; we live in a globalised security environment. The cold war era asymmetry between states that possess nuclear weapons and those that don't is no longer remotely tolerable.
"One step in the right direction would be to start negotiations for a weapons elimination treaty, backed by a robust monitoring and compliance-verification mechanism."
For too long, it has been assumed that the insane concept of mutually assured destruction would sustain stability and non-proliferation. Nothing could be further from the truth.
The prevalence of this deterrence doctrine in international relations has been the primary driving force behind the temptation by some countries to acquire nuclear weapons, and by others to engage in expanding and beefing up the strength of their nuclear arsenals. All this in blatant violation of the disarmament objectives set by the international community.
(FILE) Israel nuclear warhead missile
It is imperative that we change this dangerous and erroneous security paradigm and move toward a better, safer and fairer arrangement. I sincerely believe that the nuclear agreement between my country - a non-nuclear-weapon state - and the P5+1 (which control almost all nuclear warheads on Earth) is symbolically significant enough to kickstart this paradigm shift and mark the beginning of a new era for the non-proliferation regime.
One step in the right direction would be to start negotiations for a weapons elimination treaty, backed by a robust monitoring and compliance-verification mechanism.
This could, in an initial phase, occasion the de-alerting of nuclear arsenals (removing warheads from delivery vehicles to reduce the risk of use) and subsequently engender the progressive disarmament by all countries possessing such WMDs.
It is certainly a feasible goal to start this global project with a robust, universal and really genuine push to establish a WMD-free zone in the Middle East, if the relevant powers finally come to deem it not just a noble cause but a strategic imperative.
(FILES) - File picture dated September 8, 2002 shows a partial view of the Dimona nuclear power plant in the southern Israeli Negev desert. US and Israeli intelligence services collaborated to develop a destructive computer worm to sabotage Iran's nuclear efforts.The New York Times reported on January 16, 2011. The newspaper quoted intelligence and military experts as saying the testing took place at the heavily guarded Dimona complex in the Negev desert housing the Middle East's sole, albeit undeclared nuclear weapons program.
Such a new treaty would revive and complement the NPT for nuclear "haves". It would codify disarmament obligations for nuclear-armed regimes that are not party to the NPT - but that are nonetheless bound - politically, by the international non-proliferation regime and, legally, by preemptory norms of customary international law to disarm.
Iran, in its national capacity and as current chairman of the Non-Aligned Movement, is prepared to work with the international community to achieve these goals, knowing full well that, along the way, it will probably run into many hurdles raised by the sceptics of peace and diplomacy. But we must endeavour to convince and persist, as we did in Vienna.http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=261_1438492732omniradar"Now its Israel's turn"..., Nuclear Non Proliferation!Vanunu. Hypocrites. Ignorant. Liars. Killers. Blackmailers. F U Bibi! Nuclear Smuggler!Turkish student put <span class="highlight">behind</span> bars for 'insulting' ErdoganSat, 01 Aug 2015 07:35:42 -0400http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=d3c_1438428826
KemalInDaHouseAvsar and two other student members of the VP were charged for chanting slogans referring to Erdogan as "a dictator", during mass nationwide anti-government protests that broke out in 2013. Avsar had initially been put behind bars on March 12, but was released after 16 days due to his scheduled university exams.
Turkey's "insulting a public official" crime has put hundreds of journalists, academics, students, and other ordinary citizens -- even some teenagers - in hot water. Such investigations and trials have frequently drawn heavy criticism from international rights groups.
In a July 6th article the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) underlines that a total of 236 people have been investigated for insulting Erdogan since he took office in August 2014, 105 of which have been indicted. These cases have ranged from statements made in demonstrations, Twitter posts, articles and columns.
Source: http://national.bgnnews.com/turkish-student-put-behind-bars-for-insulting-erdogan-haberi/8175http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=d3c_1438428826KemalInDaHouseTurkish student put <span class="highlight">behind</span> bars for 'insulting' ErdoganTurkey, Turkish, Turks, Erdogan, T"urkiye, AKP, Yeni T"urkiye, New Turkey, PKK, CPJ, NATO, freedom of press, Tayyip Erdogan, Kurdish